The first Mormon pioneers arrived in Mexico in 1885, founding Colonia Díaz. In 1888, George M. Brown of Provo, Utah, made a deal with German-Mexican Lewis Huller for of land north of what was then the Casas Grandes River. The colony, which was originally called Colonia Huller, was first settled by George Lake, a Mormon colonist, with many others following in the spring of 1889. However, due to a problem with the deal between Brown and Huller, titles to the land could not be given to them. Instead, the colonists were forced to rent from locals or make their own individual purchases. When it was founded, the nearest train station to the colony was Gallego, away. Since a large percentage of goods consumed by the colony had to be imported from the United States, prices were high. In 1897, a railroad was built from Ciudad Juárez to a point twelve miles (19 km) outside of Dublán. The railroad proved extremely valuable for the colony, as goods could be cheaply imported and exported.