Richard Griego, State Farm agent

08/30/2026

In 1933 the United States and Mexico agreed to move the Rio Grande, and crews began cutting a new straight channel between El Paso and Fort Quitman. The project shortened the river by more than half.

The work ran from 1935 to 1938, and as the channel moved the land moved with it. Crews transferred 174 parcels between the two countries, and each nation surrendered about 2,560 acres.

Farms that sat in Texas in the morning sat in Mexico by the time the official maps were corrected. Some families crossed a bridge to reach fields they had worked their entire lives.

The river had always wandered on its own. This time engineers selected the path, and two governments signed the agreement first.

A border is supposed to follow the land. Here the land was cut to fit the border.

08/29/2026

We're growing our team and expanding our coverage to Las Cruces soon. Stay tuned on our socials for more exciting updates!

To hear more from our Executive Editor, Bill Church, about what's to come, visit sfnm.co/lcnmplan today.

08/29/2026

Hidden in the Chihuahuan desert is a place that powered America’s Space Race.

Our neighbor the White Sands Missile Range houses the White Sands Test Facility, a spacecraft testing facility that had a massive impact on America’s journey to space.

The White Sands Test Facility was established in 1962. Its location was ideal for aerospace propulsion testing due to the topography and isolated landscape.

Not only were the main engines for the Apollo tested and certified at the facility, but so were the engines that allowed the craft to safely land on the moon, as well as launch from the lunar surface!

White Sands National Park takes great pride in its partnership with our military neighbors at White Sands Missile Range who have greatly contributed to America’s Space History and putting us on the moon!

Photo Credit: NASA

08/27/2026

08/26/2026

In early 1972 doctors found lead poisoning in seventy two people in one El Paso village, and thirty five of them were children who had to be hospitalized.

The village was Smeltertown. Families called it La Esmelda. It went up in the 1890s on company land along the east bank of the Rio Grande, right under the smelter stacks, and it grew to more than 2,500 people, most of them Mexican.

In December 1971 the El Paso City and County Health Department reported that the smelter had put more than a thousand metric tons of lead into the air between 1969 and 1971.

The company bought the land under the houses and moved the people off it. In 1973 the last hundred families got a deadline to go.

Then crews knocked the village down. The poisoning was real and the danger was real. So was everything the families lost, and nobody built them another Smeltertown.

08/20/2026

El Paso and Las Cruces are getting some national love! 🌵🏜️ The Points Guy named both Borderland cities among 9 charming and affordable U.S. getaways, highlighting everything from mountain hikes and stunning desert scenery to food. 🌶️ Read more: https://bit.ly/4cOxw7s

08/20/2026