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Photo Courtesy of Texas Highways
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El Paso County, Texas
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El Paso, Texas 1908 |
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EL PASO COUNTY is
the westernmost county of Texas. Its center point is 106°10' west
longitude and 31°40' north latitude. Bounded on the southwest by the
Rio Grande and Mexico, on the north and west by the state of New Mexico,
and on the east by Hudspeth County, Texas, El Paso County is
approximately 650 miles west of Dallas and 575 miles northwest of San
Antonio. El Paso County and neighboring Hudspeth County are the only
Texas counties on Mountain Time. The county comprises 1,057 square miles
of desert and irrigated land that rises from an elevation of 3,500 feet
at the Rio Grande to 7,000 feet at the summits of the Franklin
Mountains.qv The Rio Grande valley in
this area has been irrigated since prehistoric times and produces
bountiful harvests of cotton, pecans, and alfalfa, and lesser amounts of
numerous vegetables and fruits. Agriculture depends entirely upon
irrigation from the river; the average annual rainfall is only 7.77
inches. Desert flora and fauna abound away from the river, while fertile
fields and gardens flourish under irrigation. Although summer
temperatures usually rise above 100° F for brief periods and have
reached a peak of 112, El Paso is not one of the nation's hot spots. A
pleasant altitude and low humidity make most summer days agreeable. The
average maximum temperature in July is 94° F. The average growing
season lasts 248 days. Winters are pleasant, with occasional light
snows, although such extremes as fourteen inches of snow and 8° below
zero are on record. Some 240 square miles of the county is occupied by
the city of El Paso (1992 population 515,342), the largest United States
city on the Mexican border, the fourth largest in Texas, and
twenty-eighth in the United States. Other El Paso County communities
include Fabens, Tornillo, Clint, San Elizario, Socorro, Horizon City,
Canutillo, and Anthony. Although a major industrial area, El Paso County
has few natural resources other than abundant sunshine and bounteous
agriculture. There is no oil production, although there are two oil
refineries. There is little if any mineral production, although the
county has long been a trade center for Southwest mining and contains a
major smelter and a major copper refinery. The county is the only county
in the United States to have mined, milled, and smelted tin. The source,
deposits of cassiterite in the Franklin Mountains, was found
insufficient for profitable operation.
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The Spanish name El Paso
del Norte denotes a historically important geographical point, the
channel cut by the Rio Grande through the mountains to form a natural
passageway for travelers to the north or south, east or west. The name
El Paso appears in print as early as 1610, in the narrative of Gaspar
Pérez de Villagrá, poet-historian of the Oñate expeditionqv
of 1598. This large colonizing expedition claimed for the king of Spain
all the vast territory of the upper Rio Grande. The way up the river had
already been charted by the Rodríguez-Sánchez expeditionqv
by 1582. The Oñate expedition, however, had sought a shortcut through
the Chihuahuan Desert. Pérez de Villagrá wrote that without water, and
almost without hope, the expedition continued on, seeking "el paso
por las montañas." At the pass in 1598, on the banks of the river,
Oñate and his followers staged a three-day celebration. One of his
captains wrote and produced a drama for the occasion, perhaps the first
drama presented on what is now American soil. Fish, ducks, and geese
from the river supplied food for a great feast, to which Indians living
in the area were invited guests, and gratitude was formally rendered to
God for the safe arrival of the expedition. Should this be considered
the first American Thanksgiving? The pass continued to serve as a way
station for travelers between Spanish Mexico and its far-flung dominions
to the north. In 1680 an Indian uprising drove the Spaniards out of New
Mexico. Many of them found refuge in the El Paso valley, bringing with
them members of two Indian tribes, the Tiguas and the Piros. For these
were founded the missions of Corpus Christi de la Isleta in Ysleta and
Nuestra Señora del Socorro in Socorro.
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