Texas Almanac, 1984-1985 Page: 9
[706] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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THE BORDERLANDS 9
Mount Cristo Rev, which marks the point where Texas, New Mexico and Old Mexico meet, can be seen from miles away
as a distinctive El Paso landmark.
A Fascinating Tour of the Borderlands
This travel piece was prepared for the Texas Almanac by Carol Barrington of Houston, a freelance travel writer.FOR more than 1,250 miles the Rio Grande edges Tex-
as, from El Paso to Brownsville, as it rambles its way
from the mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of
Mexico. Man has staked some lasting claims - massive
dams, thriving cities and farmlands, a national park -
but vast sections of the river and the land remain undis-
turbed, the last wild frontier of Texas.
Although cartographers say it is 806 miles from El
Paso to Brownsville, that route uses inland short cuts
such as Interstate 10 and U.S. Highways 90 and 83. No
roads follow the river the full length of the border, and
probably no road ever will, so rugged is the land. Visi-
tors must settle for sampling Texas' southern boundary
at a handful of locations. One can begin with El Paso.
Just over 400 years ago - in 1581 - an expedition of
conquistadores traveled north from Mexico City and
followed the Rio Grande to near the site of today's El
Paso. Spanish colonization in what is now West Texas
and New Mexico was under way. Another expedition in
1598 established the area as "El Paso del Rio del Norte,"
the crossing of the river of the north. A half-century
later, in 1659, the Franciscan mission of Nuestra Senora
de Guadalupe was the first settlement. The church the
fathers built stands today on the Plaza in Ciudad
Juarez, El Paso's sister city across the Rio Grande.
Within the next 20 years two more missions and a presi-
dio were built, and the tiny community began to thrive
as a major stop on El Camino Real, the King's Highway
that stretched from Mexico City to Santa Fe. Today that
community is the Ysleta suburb of El Paso, the oldest
settlement in America.
The next two centuries were relatively stable. But
the coming of the railroads in 1881 gave El Paso access
to the economic mainstream of America. After a few
wild and woolly years, when the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat
Masterson and John Wesley Hardin trod the town's
dusty streets, El Paso began evolving into the substan-
tial city it is today, the fourth largest in Texas.
With a combined city-county population of close to 1
million, El Paso has much to offer the visitor. First stop
should be either the Tourist Information Center (watch
for signs on 1-10 east of downtown) or the Tourist and
Convention Bureau in the Civic Center Plaza (Mesa St.
turn-off south from 1-10; 915/544-3650). In addition togeneral information, there are brochures on walking
and driving tours of the city, museums, Juarez and ma-
jor sights.
Looking like a futuristic sombrero, the $20 million
Civic Center is an architectural treat and is home to
concert, opera and theater performances year-round.
Two blocks west, historic San Jacinto Plaza, bounded
by Mesa, Mills, Oregon and Franklin Streets, is the tra-
ditional gathering spot of the city, site of the old News-
paper Tree and political orations. Another historic site
within hailing distance of downtown skyscrapers is the
Magoffin Home, 1102 Magoffin Ave. (915/533-5147). This
20-room hacienda with its thick adobe walls was built in
1875 and restored as a joint Bicentennial project by El
Paso and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Now a state historic site, the old home is furnished to
the period and open for tours Wednesday through
Sunday.
Four other historic places east of town are well
worth visiting. The Tigua (pronounced "Tee-wah") In-
dian Reservation in the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is the only
Indian reservation within the limits of a major Ameri-
can city (Avenue of the Americas exits south from 1-10).
Home to the state's oldest identifiable tribe, this pueblo
is a series of neat adobe shops where bread is baked in
beehive ovens, crafts are demonstrated, and the basics
of Indian life, such as the Kiva, are explained. The
bread can be sampled at the tribe's restaurant, as can
prize-winning red and green chili. Open daily, the res-
ervation is adjacent to both Candelaria House, a muse-
um of Indian culture, and to the Ysleta Mission, built in
1681 and the oldest mission in America. The present
church is a restoration incorporating the foundation
and some adobe walls of the original structure.
Old Pueblo Road that runs in front of the church is a
remnant of El Camino Real and continues south to So-
corro Mission (1681), the oldest continuously active par-
ish in the United Siates. Through several renovations
this church has retained the original wood beams
carved by Piro Indians, and its front facade is pat-
terned after the Pueblo Indian rain cloud symbol, a di-
rect link with the Tigua and Piro tribes' origins in New
Mexico. Nearby, San Elizario Presidio (1777) remains in
daily use. Together, Ysleta and Socorro pre-date their
first counterparts in California by 88 years.
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Texas Almanac, 1984-1985, book, 1983; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113817/m1/11/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.