Los Mochis is a young, prosperous, modern city, located in the Northeast coast of Mexico in the great agricultural region known as ¨El Valle del Fuerte¨(the valley of the strong). It is said that this city, head of Ahome County in the state of Sinaloa, was created thanks to the dreams and vision of North American businessmen who were awed by the area's potential.

As for the origin of the name, there is not a consensus among historians, but the main theories indicate that ¨Mochis¨ comes from the Mayan vocabulary (cahita) motchic, or mochic, which makes reference to a type of small turtle abundant in said region. Another theory says that the original name is ¨Los Mochos¨, which was used by the Indians in reference to several male sheep. Finally, the third theory is one that says that ¨Mochis¨ could have come from the plural of moocho, which Indians used to call an ant.

Los Mochis is a very young city, created at the beginnings of last century, making it lack in colonial history. To understand its beginnings, we must first talk about Ahome County (county of which Los Mochis is head), which had its origins on August 15, 1605 when missionary Father Perez de Ribas founded Ahome. Three hundred years later, Ahome received the title of directory when ¨El Valle del Fuerte¨ was categorized as a city in 1906. Its inhabitants were not in agreement because the fast growth of Ahome made it a candidate for independent county. On December 20, 1916, after several tries, the Decree of Local Legislature created the County of Ahome, and later Los Mochis was made head of Ahome County.

It can be said that Los Mochis is a recent city whose beginnings were in the XX Century, which makes it one of the youngest in the state of Sinaloa. Its origins are said to come from the dream of Albert K. Owen, a young North American who was amazed by the Ohuira Bay. Owell arrived to these lands with the purpose of doing research for the construction of railroads (non-existent at that time), but when he saw the geography of the area he visualized a perfect city with land, sea and air connections to all parts of the world. Mr. Owen designed the beginnings of the city with clean blueprints, ideal for constructing the perfect city that he dreamed.

While several attempts were made at creating the perfect city, Benjamin F. Johnston, a young North American business man attracted by Mr. Owen´s dream, arrived to Topolobampo. He saw the potential of the exploitation of sugar cane and made alliance with Edward Lycan and Don Zacarias Ochoa; out of this alliance surged ¨The Aguila Sugar Company¨. This successful union made Johnson a very powerful business man, who following Owen´s dream, had traced a modern city with wide and straight, American style streets, making what we today know as Los Mochis. By April 20, 1903, Los Mochis leadership was founded by decree and in 1935 this city became the head of Ahome County.

It can be said that Los Mochis had its origins in the dreams of a man and in the economic development generated by the sugar industry. It is important to mention that in the last decades its development has been based on a highly technical industry practiced in the valleys of El Fuerte and El Carrizo.

Today, Mochis is a city with a territorial extension equivalent to 4,342 km2 (8% of Sinaloa); it has wide avenues, an international airport, a port for ships from all over the continent, a railroad that covers route to Chihuahua- Pacific, and a tourist infrastructure enough to satisfy all types of visitors. It is believed that by 2005 this growing city had a population over 232,000 inhabitants.

Its main economical activities are agriculture, fishing, farming, industry, commercial and services. Its active economic population (PEA) is occupied mainly in the agriculture, farming, hunting and fishing (29,512 persons); services (28,772); commercial (15,432); and manufacturing industry (11,989).