by Toby H. Hausler, Education major, class of 2025
Introduction
April 26, 1930. The local census taker in Lane County makes their way down the Siuslaw River taking note of all the inhabitants living in the area. During this time, they run into a small crew of migrant workers. Frank Rodriguez, Angel Alvarez, and Angel Ramirez work for a small railroad start-up called the Pacific Great Western Railway Company. While Frank was born in Texas, both Angels were born in Mexico and made their way to Lane County to work on the railroads. However, this is not an uncommon occurrence amongst Migrants during this time. In the Lane County area, 90% of Mexicanos either work on the railways or are part of a family whose main provision source is railway work. To figure out why this is, let us look at the story as a whole and zoom into the life of one of these men to figure out what the lives of these men may have looked like.
Angel Ramirez was born in Mexico on August 20, 1903. Little did Angel know that this would be a tense moment in Mexico’s history to be born in. Within the next few years, tension would rise as many Mexicans began to speak out about the uneven distribution of benefits and costs that had been built with new advancements in industrial development as well as expansion of commercial agriculture. This tension would continue to grow for the next 5-7 years until finally in November the war would break out in Mexico. This became a time of great migration, as many Mexican families began to flee from the war and head towards a new and brighter future in the United States of America.
Migration
It is not known when Angel Ramirez migrated to the United States. However, because he did not know when he migrated on the census, it is not hard to imagine that he migrated here at a much younger age. A time when he was too young to remember the year he migrated. Therefore, it is safe to say that his parents, with Angel (their now 7-year-old son) and possibly other children, saw Mexico as an unfit place to raise their family. This, combined with the fact that many jobs were beginning to open in the United States, left the Ramirez family with only one option; cross the border into Texas and try to create a fresh start.
After migrating to Texas, life would look very different for Angel Ramirez and his family. It is possible that for the first half a decade or even more his family found themselves in refugee camps. On top of this, as a refugee and an immigrant, it would have been hard for Angel to attend the public schools that are provided for other children in the United States. Many kids in these camps, including Angel, would mostly learn to read write, and speak English from his family and other Mexican migrants in his area. However, life would move on, and as Angel got older, he would learn how to work jobs and do manual labor where it could be found.
By 1928, Angel had found himself in need of work, and as the roaring 20s ended this was a lot harder to find. The U.S. began to dive into a depression and work was sparse. Many workers at this time were following the workflow which slowly began to head north to the Pacific Northwest. At this time Angel would learn of a newer company in Oregon that was looking for workers. The Pacific Great Western Railway Company was looking for workers to build and maintain a railroad that ran from Eugene to Florence (a town West of Eugene on the Oregon Coast). This piqued Angel’s interest, so he got on a train and headed north to Oregon. This is where he would start a life of his own.
Death
Angel would not end up in Florence or Eugene. He would work in Acme, Oregon, a small town just east of Florence where the railroad ended. Upon arrival, he met his new crew that he would work with for the next four years of his life, Frank Rodriguez and Angel Alvarez. The three of them would work on this Railroad and live in camps set up near the river. This is how Angel would spend the last 4 years of his life, as he would tragically drown in the Siuslaw River and be pronounced dead on April 16, 1932, at the age of 28. It is unknown how he drowned; however, it is safe to assume that living in a camp near the river he did not have proper access to showers or baths. So, he would bathe in the Siuslaw and one day an accident occurred while he bathed that would take his life.
While the life of Angel Ramirez was tragically cut short, Angel’s life was not that different from many other Mexican people and families who lived in Lane County during that time. Over 86% of Mexicans who lived in Lane County during this period either worked on the railroads or were part of families provided for by railroad workers. Also, the average age of Mexicans in Lane County during this time is 27.7: Almost exactly the age of Angel Ramirez. So, it is safe to say that until his death, Angel’s life was very standard to what a lot of young men who identified as Mexican would have looked like during this time in Lane County.
Angel’s story echoes many themes that surrounded Mexican people during this period. It is not an easy story to digest, but it is vital to understand a lot of what was happening with both the American people and Mexican immigrants during this time. This was the time of the Roaring 20s. White people in New York and other big cities were building themselves up and creating empires. Jobs were plentiful and open to many. People in Mexico were offered jobs to migrate from Mexico to America to get to be a part of it. However, this shiny appearance did not hold up for very long, and it is through stories like Angel’s that it becomes possible to see the cracks. This “Dream” was held for only those who were white, and often only white people who had status. Many of the people who fell out of this demographic were left to work in blue-collar jobs and would either work to their death or work till they were no longer needed and be cast off to find their next job. This was the lie of the Roaring 20s that would lead Angel Ramirez and many other Mexican people to migrate to the United States, and it is still mostly believed today.
Bibliography
Castillo-Muñoz, Verónica. “The Caravan of Death”: Women, Refugee Camps, and Family Separations in the US–Mexico Borderlands, 1910–1920.” Journal of Women’s History 35, no. 4 (2023): 118-139. https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2023.a913385.
Mexican History: A Primary Source Reader, edited by Porter, Susie S., Edward W. Osowski, and Nora E. Jaffary. Boulder, CO: Westview Press,. https://search-alexanderstreet-com.uoregon.idm.oclc.org/view/work/bibliographic_entity|bibliographic_details|1727049
Oregon State Archives; Salem, Oregon; Oregon, Death Records, 1864-1967
Sanchez, George J.. Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1995. Accessed May 21, 2024. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Siuslaw Pioneer Museum, The Early RailRoad, October 16, 2023. https://www.siuslawpioneermuseum.com/early-transportation-the-railroad/
Year: 1930; Census Place: Acme, Lane, Oregon; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0001; FHL microfilm: 2341680