Chapter 6:
The Diaspora
(1916-1920)
The Rio Grande project had been badly over promoted, both by Texas developers as well as some family members. Arrival at Mercedes was the start of a reality check.
The first to abandon the Rio Grande scheme were Friedrich and Bertha Fuhrhop. In 1911 they returned to Ellerslie. Their children were still on the farms at Ellerslie that had been established in 1893 and 1894. Their family history is chronicled in the “South Edmonton Saga”.
With no near term certainty of additional irrigation water in Texas, it became apparent that the block the Drewes families were farming could not support the whole clan. The decision was made by J. Heinrich and his sons Henry and William to withdraw from the project, and thus leave the remaining families a better chance of success. Unlike the others, J. Heinrich and his son Henry still owned some land at Ellerslie, and had the homestead of 480 acres at Botha. Their story will be continued in the chapter “Botha 1913 - 1960”. The remaining families of Friedrich Drewes, Wilhelm Drewes, Henry Heuer and Jacob Kruse struggled on at Mercedes.
Friedrich Drewes and his family in Mercedes
The Wilhelm Drewes family in Mercedes (c. 1910-1915)
They faced a number of negative factors:
(1) The small land base
(2) Insufficient irrigation water
(3) High transportation costs, and as a result low market prices for their produce. Their produce had to be hauled to Brownsville by team and wagon, and then put on the train.
(4) An outbreak of yellow fever in 1915, and finally
(5) The raids of Pancho Villa.
In 1917 the clan made a decision to leave Texas. There is no record to indicate if they sold their Texas land or just abandoned it. Their plans for a final destination were also never recorded. There has been some undocumented speculation that they were going north to rejoin the oldest brother J. Heinrich, and that the stop in Idaho Falls was only a temporary stop in the journey.
Marie and Henry Heuer in Mercedes
It is quite possible that in reality they were still searching for the American Promised Land, and that it possibly existed in Idaho. All of the family histories suggest a definite distaste for Canadian winters and Idaho offered a climate closer to that of Germany which they had left.
The promise that Idaho Falls offered lay in the development of its irrigation system. The construction of the Utah and Northern Railroad from Idaho Falls to Butte, Montana utilized Mormons from Utah to work on the track. After the railroad was finished, the Mormons used their Utah irrigation skills to develop the area. From 1879 through 1890 the construction of “The Great Feeder”, the world’s longest canal at that time, changed tens of thousands of acres of desert into green farmland.
The migrating families from Mercedes found work in the construction business at Idaho Falls. What had started out as a temporary stop would become a permanent new home.