Mount Cristo Rey/ The Gadsden Purchase/ El Paso Smelting Works
Mount Cristo Rey
High above the point where the states of Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua intersect stands an impressive monument at the summit of Sierra de Cristo Rey, portraying Christ on the cross. The dream of the small parish of San Jose Del Rio Grande was realized when this fifty-three foot high cross was dedicated in 1940.
The Gadsden Purchase
Across the river from the Southwestern Portland Cement Company plant, the products of which have helped build El Paso and the Southwest, is the east-west boundary monument between the United States and Mexico. This line was established by the Gadsden Purchase Treaty of 1853, which added 45,000 square miles to the southern portions of New Mexico and Arizona, through purchase from Mexico for ten million dollars.
El Paso Smelting Works
Nearby can be seen the reaching stacks of this huge plant, which has been in continuous operation since 1887 and is the largest custom smelter in the world, and an important and sustaining factor in the mining development of this area.
Marker is on Scenic Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
