This Day in History: , The Southern US
Border Is Established.
December 30, 1853.
The treaty, known as the Gadsden Purchase, was signed in Mexico City.
Named after the U.S. Minister to Mexico,
James Gadsden, the treaty settled
the dispute over the location of the
Mexican border west of El Paso, Texas.
For the price of $15 million —
later reduced to $10 million —
it established the final boundaries
of the southern United States.
30,000 square miles of what is
now New Mexico and Arizona
was included in the purchase.
The land was deemed to be a highly strategic
location for the construction of the southern
transcontinental railroad.
Eight years later, in 1861,
the Southern Pacific branch
of the Central Pacific Railroad
was established