The original colony has expanded into several settlements numbering more than five thousand persons. The principal colony is named Colonia Juarez, and it is a few miles from the station of Casas Grandes. The Mormons are splendid agriculturalists, and they sell large quantities of alfalfa, grains, potatoes and dairy products. They use the very latest of American agricultural machinery on their farms. Every village has a graded school supported by a voluntary tax, and a large central academy is also maintained for higher education. They are devout followers of the Mormon prophets,—these colonists across the Rio Grande,—although they claim that no open polygamy is practised. Each man will deny the possession of more than one wife. The excess of women with families over the men, however, and the fact that the Mormon man is thoroughly at home in more than one house would easily lead one to a different conclusion. To this must be added the knowledge that these Mormons left good homes in Utah for a tract of almost desert land in Mexico, mainly because of the efforts of the government of the United States to stamp out plural marriages. The other main route to the Sierra regions is an extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which is known as the Sonora Railway. This railroad extends from Nogales, and it is destined to run to the city of Guadalajara, a distance of about eleven hundred miles. Nogales is a city of about three thousand inhabitants, half of which lies on either side of the border line. A simple glance without any explanation would show the visitor which part of it belongs to the United States, because of the difference in the buildings and the energy of the inhabitants. From there the railroad runs south through Magdalena and across some fertile plains until, at a distance of almost three hundred miles from the border, it reaches Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora, which is the second largest state in the republic. Much of this state is useless for agriculture, as it is dry and arid, and a part is very mountainous. In other sections the soil is extremely fertile, and irrigation would render it invaluable. Such projects could be carried out if there was as much enterprise on that side of the border as on the northern side. Near the Yaqui River the soil and climate are as well adapted to fruit culture as southern California. There are many large mining enterprises, the largest being at Cananea, and nearly all are American enterprises. The trouble with the Yaqui Indians has greatly hindered development in Sonora during the past decade. Several parties of American prospectors and miners were attacked and a number of Americans killed. The government finally deported thousands of the Yaquis to other sections of the republic, and their depredations then ceased.