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International Finance

John Duncklee

    During the sixties and seventies life along the Arizona Sonora border was comfortable. Most residents on both sides were comfortable in both English and Spanish. Both sides retained their strongest cultural differences, but many of those became common in time. Length of residency was a determining factor. Except for four years during the Korean War, Jake Baker had lived along the border all of his life. The border meant nothing to him and he spent as much if not more of his time on the Mexican side as he did in Arizona.
    There was a time when Jake spent all of his time in Sonora because he lived there. He had established himself as a cattle buyer, and pursued a living doing that for many years. His headquarters changed at times, but he lived mostly in Navojoa, a small agricultural city located close to the Sierra Madre, almost in Sinaloa. It was a convenient place for Jake because the source of most of his cattle purchases was up in the high country of the Sierra Madres. Jake specialized in corriente steers that were the closest descendants from the cattle once imported by the Spaniards. High in those mountains the ranchers who raised small numbers of cattle had not yet changed to what was known as “Improved Mexicans” that were cattle crossbred for several generations with the European breeds commonly found in the United States. That situation never bothered Jake. He enjoyed the people in the Sierra Madre and found markets in the United States for the corrientes that were popular there for “roping steers” in rodeos.
    Jake didn’t spend all of his life in the mountains buying corrientes, he found plenty of time to make his way around to the many bars and houses of joy in the cities and towns of Sonora. He liked to refer to these forays as his “Social Life”. Jake would walk into a house of joy and all the girls who were waiting for clientele would jump up from tables and bar stools and run to him, almost fighting among them for chances to give him hugs and kisses. Jake was popular at all of his “social life” locations. He was not only a well thought of customer, he was also known for his generosity. Any girl who found herself in an emergency situation could count on Jake Baker for his help, both as a comfort and as a source of monetary aid.
    Jake’s Sonoran reputation is probably best expressed by a story his mother once told. Jake’s mother, a tough but feminine Western ranch woman would, in her later years, enjoy trips into Sonora to see the scenery and meet the “natives”. Before one of these trips she had mentioned her plans to one of her friends, a widow she had known for several years. The widow asked to be included on this trip and Jake’s mother agreed. She thought it would be nice to have company while traveling south of the border.
    The time was set, the bags all packed and the two women met at Jake mother’s house that was close to the border. The widow brought up the question of pocket money and said, “I have to go to the bank and cash a check before we leave.”
    “Not me,” Jake’s mother replied, “I’m just taking my checkbook with me.”
    “For heavens sake,” the widow said. “How do you expect to cash a check in Mexico?”
    “That’s no problem for me at all,” Jake’s mother said. “All I have to do is go into any whore house in the state of Sonora and tell them I am Jake Baker’s mother, and they will cash my check for any amount I write.

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