“The abandoned flour mills throughout Sonora,” said the Mexican anthropologist Guillermo Nuñez Noriega, “are the equivalents for Sonorans of the pyramids in Central Mexico.” Fulbright Fellow Maribel Alvarez of Tucson pointed out that although this comparison may seem lopsided, given the monumentality of the pyramids, it clearly communicates the central role that wheat has played in Sonoran culture. By the end of the 19th century, there were close to 60 flour mills operating in Sonora.  Wheat production continued to flourish […]