>> you are watching american history tv come only on c-span3. americaneekend, cruces,tv includes las new mexico where staff travel to see its historic sites. the city was founded in 1849 and means the crosses in spanish. learn more about las cruces this weekend here on american history tv. >> by the time the americans came out to this part of what would later become the united states, this is already old. even the you. -- european histories are old. >> while in less kisses, we took a ride with new mexico state parks interpreter alex mares. >> thank you so much for showing us. alex: thank you for inviting me. >> you were born and raised here, right? --alex: i am a

child of the desert. like a lot of us along the border, i am native american. i interact with people in my job all over the world. >> we are at leesburg dam state park. we will visit other places. where are you taking us? leesburg dam see state park area, will trevor -- travel to the village of a native indigenous community. we will see old mesilla theich dates back to 1850's. we'll see parts of old downtown las cruces as well. >> right now we are overlooking leesburg dam state park. tell me more about this area. alex: this is a really old area. starting with the natural environment, the geology and terrain, the rio grande, the river below us, is only one of five rivers in the entire planet

that is in a valley it did not create. the reason the river is in the valley now is because it sits atop a rift. as a result of this rio grande rift, underneath the valley and parts of the river like here at leesburg, there is actually geothermal activity. there is still magma, hot, molten magma. as a result, the groundwater and river water that come in contact when it puts -- pushes backup creates hot springs. in addition to being sure of the year -- geothermal and hot in the riverbed, they contain an element known as radium, which has a radioactive half-life. there are a lot of of people believe it has there. healing properties, medicinal properties, but this is what has attracted people for thousands of years to this area, this water in the desert and these hot springs.

>> when you say thousands of years, you mean early to the area. alex: early to the settlers. this area we are looking at is a mountain range. the mountains you see are the highest you see in the area. they are just shy of 9000 feet above sea level. between here and those two mountain ranges are prehistoric villages and artifacts from , 10le from the last ice age to 12,000 years ago, two people from the archaic. ago, to the00 years ancestors of today's modern pueblo people. we still have modern pueblo people living in new mexico that descend from these folks. we have the spanish history. all of the old hispanic families that you find in northern new

them and their ancestors had to have come from this area. this is the immigration route and where they came out of what would later becomes old mexico. >> what your are we talking about? early 1500s, 1530, 1540, the first spanish explorers and cookies dinners came through. >> it predates plymouth rock? alex: it predates the myth rock and most of what happened back east and the early american colonial. and the revolution. this happens a century or more prior to all of that. >> we are talking about immigration to the area. you are close to the border here in las cruces. what is the relationship between the u.s.-mexico border when it relates to new mexico? alex: if you are talking culture, i like to joke with tourists and visitors that my

whole life i have heard about this international border and state borders, that i have never seen them. they have shown them to me on paper, but i have never seen them. what i mean by that is if you are born and raised in this community, and it may be to for other border communities, angle ng or otherwise, we're so intermittentlo, and we are tight. --s a cross approachable cross-cultural community. move between the two countries has always been easy. it has been pretty fluid and easy-going. there are a lot of people who have family on both sides. -- hereave been longer longer than the borders and the ties and the relationships go back when the borders have been moved.

the borders have been moved and changed, but the people and relationships has stayed the same area you will have families in this -- area. you will have a families from 150 years ago. they have mixed. ,t is reflected in language order language is often times a mix of english and spanish. example.is another heavily influence of mexican culture in our food. >> as we turn left and you speak of food, we passed a lot of grills. does agriculture play a big role in new mexico? ,lex: yes, the big reservoirs the primary reason for building them is to trap and store snow and rainfall from southern colorado and northern new

mexico, the whole reason being that the countries. >> you are also known for green chili. alex: green chili, the community of hatch and the hatch valley has gotten patented and copyrighted that no one can legally call their chili hatch chile unless it is grown in the hatch valley. they have gone to court over that. and now pecan is growing second. >> where are we headed now? alex: we are traveling the valley from the north end going down the center. .e will go close to the river we will cross the rio grande and stop by a roadside historic landmark or, which basically is a monument to the signing of the gadsden purchase. >> we have pulled off literally into the dirt on the side of the

road to see this small marker. although it is tiny, it has a big role in southwest and american history. what are we looking at? alex: the u.s. goes to war against mexico. mexico loses and actually they lose the moment they decide to give in and to say, ok, let's stop fighting. we give up. was right after the battle in a little community south of us in the valley area they have to decide, where is mexico going to end and the u.s. begin? the mathematics and instruments they had to survey and measure, as good as they had at the time, were still off. that the rio grande is going to play a role in this border. the problem is, the river moves back and forth. decide to set fixed markers.

that is why they made a fixed marker. this is one of the corners that will later become known as the gadsden purchase. this corner marker is at that time, 18 48, 1850, and actually the beginning of mexico in the end of the u.s.. the little community we are messia, go to, old there are people who do not want to become u.s. citizens. it is one of those instances in history where americans -- were not every mexican want to become a american. these folks jumped out of the united states into mexico. ia we should go to old mess and see this. alex: we have just entered the town limits. it is common to find cars driving or parked in and around

las cruces owned by both anglo and hispanics alike. sometimes it'll have a translation, i am a trout -- proud miessian. they are proud to be here and it goes back to the history of them not wanting to become u.s. citizens after the war. >> talk about that. alex: before the gadsden purchase, about 50 to 60 primarily hispanic families literally pick up all of their belongings and load up their wagons and look across the river, east to west, see a little hill, hence the name little hill, and they say that is where we are going to move to, back to mexico and that is where we will build our village. history has a weird twist.

or two years later, when they do the gadsden purchase, they wind up back in the united states. we have now entered the old historic plaza. the gazebo has both the u.s. and mexico flag. them is for missia and . this was a courthouse. these are old adobe buildings. , the streetdewalks is even brick. >> is this a large list for tourists? alex: this is tourism center. this is the magnet or hub for this area. >> we are leaning -- leaving the plaza. where to? alex: we will hit another community that is not as old,

but is still very unique and distinct. >> we are turning into the tortugas neighborhood. tell us about that. alex: tortugas is plural for turtles. they are public people. is that when they flee to mexico as a result of the 1680 revolt, they are two groups . one group is about two weeks ahead of the other group. it is a mixture of mexican indians, spaniards, and pueblo people who are fleeing the revolt. they were forced to flee. the straggler group that is behind the main group, the main group they complain or say those people are moving slow and moving like turtles. this building over here on the left is kind of a terra-cotta color, all three buildings are

the same color. these are the social and religious and ritual ceremonial structures they built here. the biggest event of the year for these people, and tourists, and family members come from all over the world who have moved away, they come during the week , and in the other building they will have candles and they will dance all night long there. they will have ritualistic prayer and a dance. it is a mixture of both roman catholic and indigenous beliefs. the people here are really kind of a neat microcosm of a lot of new mexico. they are a mixture of spanish, mexican-indian, and native new mexicans. >> it kind of shows the

diversity of the area. alex: right. >> with the meter to this neighborhood. should we see downtown? tortugase seen the neighborhood. should we go downtown? alex: yes. toy consolidated all museums be all shoulder to shoulder it located on main street. they spent several million dollars and it took several years to renovate this entire main street district. ultramodern. everything is brand-new. the parks and sidewalks and lighting. they still tried it to keep the feel of a certain time. period. is within walking distance. you can walk to the historic theater, you can walk to the

bookstore. you can walk to all of the museums. >> we have been all around the las cruces area. we talked about its history and the earliest settlers and now we're into the modern downtown. what would you like to see next for southern new mexico? alex: the next thing is really to make reality the idea of forng this a destination specifically cultural and ecotourism, heritage tourism. we are poised for that. i think we have great potential for that more than any other in the southwest. for showing so much us around the area today. alex: thank you. ur recentlyes to

visited las cruces. learn more at c-span.org/cities to appear you are wearing them -- watching american history television, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> in 1998, the world war ii film saving private ryan was released in theaters. the movie portrayed the 1944 d-day invasion of normandy and the mission to find the soldier behind enemy lines. up next on american history tv, former national world war ii museum president nick mueller talks about the museum's connection to the film and shares stories about historian stephen ambrose, a consultant on ," and theivate ryan museum's early founder. mr. mueller also talks about the reaction of historians and military leaders to the film and its legacy today. this 35-minute event was part of a symposium held at the national world war ii museum to mark the 20th anniversary of the film's release. >> welcome back everybody for