1843 to 1846
End of the Missional Period and Adjustment to a New Order

The same year, 1843, the Missional Period ends. The last franciscan remaining, abandons Pimeria Alta, and when the Priest of Cieneguilla is asked to make a repor of the Missions of Pimeria Alta, he answers that he has visited San Ignacio and Cocospera, without daring to go beyond, due to fear of the "carnovorous apaches" although he adds that he has heard of "a little town named Tumacacori", that he confuses with San Xavier del Bac.

Around that time, Jose Joaquin Elias, following the lead of other Sonora criollos that are renting the lands of the old Sonora missions, also rents the temporalities of Santa Cruz, San Ignacio and Cucurpe.

On April 18, 1844, all the lands of the old Tumacacori mission are sold in $500, including those of the "estancia" as well as of the Calabazas visita. The buyer, Francisco Aguilar, acts in the name of Manuel Maria Gandara, his brother in law, who is one of the most powerful men in Sonora.

These, among other, will be steps in the process of consolidation of a new regional economic system, that is, criollo families that inherit the main economic activity of the mission: cattle raising.

These are the worst times for Sonora: as a result of the US blockade of Guaymas that started on October 1846, commerce all throughout Sonora is paralized. Besides this, the need to allocate resources for the war against the US, also impedes the continuation of the Apache campaigns, with the result that the Indians extend their pillages all throughout Sonora.

But this is not all, the gold fever of California also originates the depopulation of almost all the frontier. It has been calculated that between 1848 and 1850, some 10,000 sonorenses abandon the State. BEsides this, at the end of 1850 Sonora suffers an epidemic of Colera, brought by a ship that brought some passengers from San Francisco. Both Guaymas as well as Alamos lose about the third of the remaining population after tne emigration, while in Altar there are 1,116 deaths.

In 1851, the heirs of Jose Juvera sell the Buenavista Ranch to Hilario Gabilondo. That same year, a group of 88 frenchmen under the command of Charles de Pindray arrive at Sonora and settle as colonizers near Cocospera, in Vado Seco.

By then, the Compañia Restauradora de las Minas de la Arizona has been formed with the intention of opening and exploiting the legendary Planchas de Plata mines, and although they acquire a concession from the Sonora government, it is declared invalid by the federal government. At the same time, the Forbes, Oceguera and Co is formed in direct competition with the Restauradora, and it acquires the services of Count Gaston Raousset de Boulbon to exploit those lands. He arrives at Guaymas with 240 armed men on June 1, 1852, and by August he is in Saric, where Boulbon proclaims the independence of Sonora. In October he is at Magdalena. When he doesn´t find the expected backing from the sonorenses, he goes to central Sonora, where he is defeated by the national armed forces and deported. However, he returns again in 1854 commanding another group of armed frenchmen, and attempts to take over Guaymas, but is defeated on July 13, and shot.