Pardo's Letter

The investors were not willing to spend money on El Chamal without some assurances of clear title to the land. Checking into the property’s title was a necessary step in buying the land, and it was critically important in protecting the shareholders joint investment. Mr. Blalock engaged attorney Rafael Pardo, in Mexico City to handle this matter. Blalock recalled, “Mr. Pardo turned the work over to his abstractor. He had the matter before him for two days. He came back to Mr. Pardo and refused to read the deeds for a thousand pesos. We paid him 500 pesos for an abstract dating back 40 years, which Mr. Pardo said would fix everything.”[2]

A great deal of what is known about the Chamal property comes from a letter (Appendix B) written by Mr. Pardo from Mexico City on January 13, 1903, and addressed to "Messrs. Geo. E. Blalock & G. T. Ingram."[3]  In this letter Mr. Pardo provides detailed information about El Chamal.

According to the letter, Mr. Gil Mariano, a notary public, delivered the titles to Mr. Pardo for his inspection. The review of the titles revealed that the Hacienda El Chamal had originally been “sold by the Nation during the Spanish Government in Mexico, through different concessions, which were granted by the Vice-Roy Don Diego Fernandez de Cordoba..." as early as 1613. The titles passed through many hands until landing in the possession of Don Cruz Garcia Rojas in December of 1885. According to Pardo’s letter, the boundaries of El Chamal comprised approximately 174,544.81 acres and included the lands:

...toward the north...of La Mission, Ricon del Tigre and Joya de Salas; toward the South, with the ranch "El Pachon," ranch of "La Roncha," and of Guadalupe; toward the East, with Paso del Rio, Guadalupe Ranch, Riachuelo, Agua de Belem, San Rafael Ranch and Ojo de Agua del Monte; and by the West, with Nuevo Morelos, ranch of Los Gatos, of Palo Blanco, de la Puente, de la Union de la Muralla, and Ejidos (city lands) of the Municipality of Santa Barbara.

Mr. Rojas, wanting cash to improve his property, took out a loan dated February 7, 1891, for $50,000 (pesos) from the International Mortgage Bank of Mexico. The collateral for the loan was the Hacienda El Chamal and constituted the first lien on the property. It was recorded in Santa Barbara on March 5, 1891.

During 1893, Mr. Rojas failed to pay on his loan for four quarters; consequently, the International Mortgage Bank took control of the land and put it up for auction. A judge awarded