The name Mexican Canyon probably comes from the Cloudcroft area where mostly New Mexican or Mexican Hispanic people lived. During the logging railroad period from 1898 to 1947, laborers in the Sacramento Mountains worked in construction, railroad maintenance, logging, making railroad ties, and producing lumber for the mines at the Alamogordo sawmill. The Mexican Canyon Trestle wooden bridge is one of the last vestiges of the Sacramento and Alamogordo High Mountain Railway and, together with the effort and work of its people, is part of the heritage of this landscape. In 1899, The Alamogordo News reported that two hundred men were employed by the Alamogordo sawmill, which manufactured 100,000 feet of lumber every 22 hours, with the men working in 24-hour shifts. In the early 1900s, photographer G.E. Miller took a photo of Mexican workers on a railcar. A typical crew consisted of 4 or 6 workers who replaced rotted ties, fixed loose rails, and added more material if it eroded.