For decades, Americans have reached for Old El Paso taco shells, enchilada sauce and chiles without knowing the brand originated in the Borderland. From its roots in Canutillo and the Upper Valley, Old El Paso grew from a hometown label into one of the country's best-known Mexican food brands.
Food executive Tom Barwise, whose obituary ran Feb. 26, 1990, in the El Paso Times, is credited with co-founding the Old El Paso brand with Mountain Pass Canning and Valley Canning Co. owner James A. Dick.
"Barwise began his wholesale grocery and canning in 1935 with the James A. Dick Co., where he held a number of positions, including that of vice president and sales manager.
"After the company was sold to Safeway Stores in the early 1950s, Barwise joined
Jim Dick in buying Mountain Pass Canning Company and they canned vegetables grown in the El Paso area. In 1955, they bought Valley Canning Co. and began marketing Mexican food under the Old El Paso Label.”
Dick’s obituary ran in the El Paso Times the following April.
Beginning of Mountain Pass Canning
The Deming Headlight of Sept. 23, 1921 reports on the beginnings of Mountain Pass Canning. Here is information from that story:
"Down in the southern part of Luna county there is an industry that has been running steadily for the past five years, an industry of which very few people in Deming know anything.
"In 1916, A.C. Powell, who had been farming along other lines, took over the original plant of the Hondale cannery, when that establishment bought its present equipment.
“Mr. Powell hauled the machinery to his farm down in the gap country between here and Columbus, set it up, planted a moderate acreage to tomatoes and started to can the product. The tomatoes are sold under the name of the Mountain Pass brand, and Felix Gilmore, manager of the Murray & Layne Co., states that the tomatoes canned by Mr. Powell find a ready sale at all times.
“Even last year, when the tomato crop all over the country was greater than the average and when prices were low, the Mountain Pass tomatoes sold more easily than several other brands that the company handles. 'Powell packs a fine tomato,' said Mr. Gilmore.
"Mr. Powell employs eight hands during the canning season, some of them members of his own family and others from round his immediate neighborhood."
Mountain Pass moves to Upper Valley
Mountain Pass was moved to the Upper Valley in 1925. A second operation was opened in Canutillo in 1934.
In November 1941, Idus and Sam Gillett, owners of the Valley Canning Co. in Canutillo, announced their new line of canned goods, Old El Paso Brand, consisting of tortillas, enchilada sauce, pinto beans and green chili peppers.
The four items, tortillas, enchilada sauce, pinto beans and green chili peppers, were grouped together to offer a complete Mexican meal and were shipped all over the country for $1.50, plus postage.
Old El Paso brand launches nationally
In 1943, James A. Dick, J.L Dodson, Harry C. Ferris and George E. Burns bought the Mountain Pass cannery. Mountain Pass bought Valley Canning in 1955 and launched the El Paso brand foods everywhere except New Mexico, Arizona and West Texas.
In those areas, operations continued to market their products under their established brand names of "Mountain Pass" and "Valley."
In 1958, Mountain Pass announced that operations would move to Anthony, Texas after the end of the canning season.
In 1968, Mountain Pass was bought by Pet Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1988, the company name was changed to Whitman Corp., adapted from Whitman's Chocolates, a division of Pet Inc.
Pillsbury Co. became the owner in 1995 when it bought Pet Inc., then General Mills when it bought Pillsbury Co. in October 2001.
In February 2002, General Mills announced it would close the canning factory in Anthony and Old El Paso brand food would no longer be produced in the area.
Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotimes.com or 915-546-6179.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Old El Paso: From local cannery to General Mills company
