Los Mochis is the western terminus of the Chihuahua-Pacific Railroad (El Chepe), which passes through the scenic Copper Canyon.

This railway was approved by President Porfirio Díaz as a trade route linking the cattle markets in Kansas City with the nearest port on the Pacific Ocean, Topolobampo.

Nearby Topolobampo is the second largest natural deepwater port in the world, and is known for its commercial fishing and increasingly important role in shipping.

[2] Los Mochis (from mochim, plural of mochic, Cahitan for "earth turtle" and used to refer to the flowers of Boerhavia coccinea)[citation needed] was founded in 1893 by a group of American utopian socialists who were adherents of Albert Kimsey Owen, an American civil engineer who built the first irrigation ditches in the valley.

The economic development of the city began with the sugar industry, but in recent decades, its progress rests on the high-tech agriculture practiced throughout the northwestern region of Mexico.

A group of enthusiastic people in la Villa de Ahome, under the name of "separatist," fought to create a municipality outside the hegemony of El Fuerte.

It achieved its objectives until 5 January 1917 when the mayor came to El Fuerte to install a new city hall in which he presided Ramon C. López who had been appointed by the state governor Francisco Cañedo.

Since then the city of Los Mochis, as the town of Ahome whole have had major changes in both economic and social policy have remained constant progress to the municipality.

It has two large sporting facilities that have running tracks, pools, tennis courts, baseball fields and a football stadium with a capacity of 11,000.

Freight service on this route is provided by the interstate rail conglomerate Ferromex, or Ferrocarril de Mexicano, which also links to the port city of Topolobampo.