A few valiant souls returned to the colonies and remained as best they
could, forming nuclei for others who have drifted back from time to time,
though neither their going nor coming was under direct Church
instruction.
Early in 1920, President J.C. Bentley of the Juarez Stake told of the
revival of the Mexican missions, and in the latter part of the same year,
A.W. Ivins, returning from the Chihuahua colonies, told that 779
colonists were found, approximately one-fifth of the total number of
refugees. To a degree their property had been maintained and their
orchards kept alive by the few who had remained over the troublous
period. The academy at Colonia Juarez had been running some time, with
100 students. He told of the great work of reconstruction that would have
to be done, in restoration of fences and homes, and expressed confidence
that all now would be well under the more stable government that has been
provided in the southern republic.
There was restoration of order in Mexico in 1920 and assumption of an
apparently stable political government under President Alvaro Obregon, a
Sonora citizen, with whom is associated P. Elias Calles, who had somewhat
to do with the Morelos-Oaxaca troubles. Assurances have been given that
protection will be extended to all immigrants, the Mormon land titles
have been accepted and a fresh movement southward has been started across
the border. But there are many, possibly a half of those who fled, who
will not return. They have established themselves, mainly in Arizona,
under conditions they do not care to leave. So, it is probable, further
extension southward of the Church plans of agricultural settlement will
be a task that will lie upon the shoulders of a younger generation.