The Journey of the Green Bridge

SURROUNDED BY TIMEWORN cultivators and tillage equipment, a steel bridge that predates New Mexico statehood rests on the grounds of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, in Las Cruces. The Green Bridge—a single-span Pratt truss design built in 1902—is the second-oldest highway bridge in the state. Originally constructed as part of a three-span bridge over the Pecos River in Chaves County, it was a primary transportation route from Roswell to oil fields, ranches, and farms across southern New Mexico. “A lot of people don’t think about the importance of transportation with regard to our food supply,” says museum curator supervisor Nathan Japel. “This bridge, and bridges like it, were integral to moving agricultural products to market and to connecting farmers to markets for their own sustenance.” In 1943, the Pecos River bridge was dismantled and, a year later, re-erected over the Río Hondo, about a mile outside of Picacho. There, it continued to serve ranchers and residents until 1989, when it was replaced. In 1997, the Green Bridge was added to the State Register of Cultural Properties and, 10 years later, restored and donated to the Farm & Ranch Museum. Today, the 134-foot-long bridge is the museum’s largest exhibit, guiding visitors across Tortugas Arroyo and offering them a chance to, as Japel puts it, “walk with the past.”