History
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El Paso stands in the valley of the Rio Grande, with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the river and the river's southern exit through the Pass of the North to the far right, the famed passage from which El Paso takes its name. From immemorial time, primitive men traveled along the life-giving waters of the Rio Grande, and at this stony pass men in the wilderness found the most accessible and strategic gateway through the southern reaches of the Rocky Mountains. Spaniards recognized the importance of the pass and named it four centuries ago, settling here with the natives, and much later Americans arrived. The coming of the railroads through the pass in 1881 linked the far oceans, aroused the drowsy stagecoach village, and brought El Paso to life as a busy city of destiny.
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El Paso, Texas · United States
