El Paso’s Transportation History is a 16 minute overview of how man has traveled through the Pass of the North at El Paso, Texas. About 5,000 years ago man lived along the Rio Grande in El Paso and got here by walking. That was the main mode of transportation in the El Paso valley until 1598, when Don Juan de Onate arrived with horses. The Spanish, and then later the other Europeans, came to the El Paso area by horse. The horse or ox-drawn wagon was a main mover of families and goods West for many years.

Then the era of the iron horse changed everything as 5 different railroad companies built into El Paso in 1881 and 1882. Trolleys appeared on El Paso and Juarez streets and provided local transportation for many years. For a few years these trolleys were pulled by mules, then by electric power.

Back in the early days of El Paso railroad traffic, one locomotive made a name for itself, Locomotive, No 1. Locomotive No. 1 was built in 1857 and has been restored to mint-condition appearance. It is now in the Transportation and Railroad Museum in El Paso, and how it got there is a major segment of this new DVD. We see Locomotive No 1. removed from its UTEP location, driven down I-10 to a restoration shop, torn apart, put back together, and driven to the Museum downtown where it was installed in its current location.

This DVD, El Paso’s Transportation History , also summarizes how aviation changed El Paso, and how the system of roads was developed into the major arteries of commerce they are today.