Blast from the Past – Montgomery Fruit Company in Puerto Vallarta

Blast from the Past – Montgomery Fruit Company in Puerto Vallarta

and although the municipality of Puerto Vallarta is still pretty young, the rise of this Mexican destination has had its own twists and turns.

According to the late city historian, Carlos Munguía Fregoso in an interview with María José Zorrilla Alcalá and memories recollected by mother and daughter Catalina Montes de Oca de Contreras and Yolanda Contreras de Garduño, presented by Yolanda Pita McCullough^[1], the Montgomery Fruit Company (a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company formed by Joseph Montgomery) had a wide impact on the development of the region.

Patasaladas (salty feet – locals born in Banderas Bay)

According to the article published on the Facebook page “El Viejo Vallarta, lugar de los Patasaladas” (Old Vallarta, place of the salty feet), the Montgomery Fruit Company launched the economy of Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta’s neighbouring community, in the 1920s bringing to the sleepy fishing village an influx of migrants that still shapes the demographics of who we consider today to be Puerto Vallarta’s true locals or “patasaladas.”

Going Bananas in Ixtapa

In 1923, the first representatives from the Montgomery Fruit Company bought land from the Ixtapa Hacienda which, at the time, belonged to a German resident, Don Alberto Beach. They began cultivating bananas, bringing plants from Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador where the United Fruit Company had a base.  Having bought 6 ranches covering an area of 45 thousand hectares, the company soon enjoyed abundant harvests of bananas from 1923 until 1925 when a cyclone hit, destroying the plants and forcing the company to abandon the land temporarily.

In 1926, the Montgomery Fruit Company, represented by American investors, returned bringing to the region an economic and democratic boon to the town of Ixtapa which, according to city historian Carlos Munguía Fregoso, in it heyday enjoyed better infrastructure than Puerto Vallarta!

From Ranch to Economic Boon

Within a short space of time, Ixtapa ranch transformed into a town with lots of movement, employment and commerce, the economic boom bringing with it modern comforts, prefabricated wooden houses, a big hotel to serve employees coming from other destinations, including Mexico City and the mountainous areas surrounding Banderas Bay, irrigation canals, an iron bridge crossing the Mascota River (albeit never put to use) and a railway line to transport bananas from Ixtapa to Boca de Tomate on the edge of Puerto Vallarta, from where they would be taken by ship by the United Fruit Company.

Home Away from Home

The arrival of the Montgomery Fruit Company, together with an exodus of migrants arriving from local towns such as San Sebastián, de El Cuale, Talpa and Mascota in search of work after the Mexican Revolution and the closure of the silver mines due to falling silver prices, changed the shape of Banderas Bay for good. According to Munguía Fregoso, the migrants that populated Ixtapa and later Puerto Vallarta, came from similar backgrounds and cultures and therefore had a lot in common, following similar customs and ideals about life, all looking for a new way of life. Those that arrived would feel like they had arrived home, as many knew each other before or had family in common.

Besides bananas, the region began to export beans, coconut oil, chilis, tobacco and corn, which could be easily exported by sea in Puerto Vallarta. There weren’t any highways, so the best way to transport the products was by sea.

What Goes Up …

The decline of the Montgomery Fruit Company began around 1931 when Mexico’s government began enforcing the “ejido” program by which land was returned to those local Mexican people who worked it. The land owned by the foreign company was thus divided amongst ejidos or custodians, forcing the company to close its operations in the area.

Although the Montgomery Fruit Company was part of Puerto Vallarta’s history for only 10 years, it left a lasting legacy in terms of how it affected the demographic of the region and its rise to importance as a port.

References:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/728935407144917/permalink/937704226268033/