El Paso : Texas
From World War II until the 1980s, El Paso boomed into a sprawling city. The expansion of Fort Bliss from a frontier post to a major Cold War military center brought in thousands of soldiers, dependents, and retirees. The industrial economy was dominated by copper smelting, oil refining, and the proliferation of low wage industries (particularly garment making), which drew thousands of Mexican immigrants. New housing subdivisions were built, expanding El Paso far to the west, northeast and east of its original core areas.
In 1967, the U.S. agreed to cede a long-disputed part of El Paso to Mexico due to changes in the course of the Rio Grande, which forms the international boundary between the two countries.
Since 1990, the local economy has been adversely affected by competition with low wage labor abroad, and the closure of the main copper smelter. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement has been a mixed blessing, with local transport, retail, and service firms expanding, but with the accelerated loss of many industrial jobs. El Paso is very sensitive to changes in the Mexican economy and the regulation of cross border traffic; the Mexican peso devaluation of late 1994 and the temporary closing of the ports of entry and subsequent stringent controls of cross border traffic after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack were felt strongly in El Paso.
Geography and Climate
El Paso is located at 31°47′25″ North, 106°25′24″ West (31.790208, -106.423242)1. The city is at 3750 feet (1140 m) above sea level. The mountain peaks in El Paso reach 7200 feet (2200 m) above sea level. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 648.9 km² (250.5 mi²).
The most wealthy part of the city is in the West. Huge mansions rest on the western foothills of the Franklin mountains. The Coronado country club is located in the foothills of west El Paso.
The Franklin Mountains extend into El Paso from the north and nearly divide the city into two sections. The Rio Grande Rift lies beneath the Pass, through which the Rio Grande flows, as evidenced by an extinct volcano, Mt. Cristo Rey just to the west of the city, on the New Mexico side of the Rio Grande. Other volcanic features include Kilbourne hole and Hunt’s hole, which are Maar volcanic craters 30 miles (50 km) west of the Franklin Mountains. El Paso is surrounded by the Chihuahuan Desert, the easternmost section of the Basin and Range Region. Temperatures average from a high of 56 °F (13 °C) and a low of 29 °F (?2 °C) in January to a high of 96 °F (35.5 °C) and low of 68 °F (20 °C) in August. The city’s record high is 114 °F (45.5 °C), and its record low is ?8 °F (?22 °C).
