Salazar Ilarregui, José, 1823-1892

José Salazar Ilarregui was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, in 1823. He graduated from the Colegio de Minería as a mathemical engineer. He was commissioned to work in 1849-1850 on the U.S.A.- Mexico boundary survey mandated by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1850 his border survey was published under the title Datos de los trabajos astronómicos y topográficos dispuestos en forma de diario, practicado durante el año de 1849 y principios de 1850 por la Comisión de Límites en la línea que divide esta República de los Estados Unidos. He also worked on the measurement of the Mesilla.

On July 8, 1863, He represented Chihuahua in the Assembly of Notables to choose the future government of Mexico and later he was appointed to the Ministries of State and Public Works. On July 31, 1864, he was appointed as the Imperial Commissioner for the Peninsula of Yucatán. He arrived in Yucatán at the Port of Sisal on September 3, 1864 and entered the capital (Merida) the next day. Salazar was received quite favorably because the people were desolated from the continuos Indian Wars; endlessly civil disputes and military insurrections (1848-1864). He arrived with money from the Imperial Government, a well organized army, and a Scientific Commission. He organized the military and civil government in an orderly and fairly manner and established the first Telegraph in Yucatán on November 12, 1865.

On March 3, 1866, Maximilian appointed him to one of the national ministries (Gobernación). He remained in the nation's capital until October 1866, when he was sent back to Yucatán. While he was in Mexico City, Yucatán's Imperial Commissioner had been Don Domingo Bureau. On November 10, 1866, Salazar once again assumed the government of Yucatán, and Bureau was appointed Imperial Commissioner of Veracruz and Tehuantepec. Salazar held this position until he capitulated to the republican armies on June 17, 1867. He was exiled to New York but later on, the Mexican government granted him amnesty to return to teaching, which he did until his death in 1892. He was appointed chief commissioner for the Guatemala-Mexico boundary survey in 1882.

From the guide to the José Salazar Ilarregui Papers GA209-211, GA234., 1823-1898, (Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library)