The Jacumba Valley is the land of the Kumeyaay people, a territory divided by the US-Mexico border wall; a political barrier that not only divides people, but also disrupts economic flows and entire natural ecosystems. The Jacumba Valley descends from the mountains to the Sonoran desert, down the Carrizo Gorge, through which the decommissioned San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway—reminiscent of a promising past—struggles to stay intact. After World War II, railroads across the country had a hard time competing with air and truck freight haulers. The increasing focus on highways and the rise of interstate trucking made it really difficult for smaller railroads to stay competitive. But what led to the decline of this railroad was mainly geography. Its rugged terrain, with steep, dry slopes and loose boulders, subject to ice, snow, flash floods and landslides, as well as scorching temperatures, gusty winds and wildfires, dubbed this "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day. Its unusual route—which starts in San Diego, crosses the border at Tijuana and runs almost 50 miles through Baja California, before reentering the US near the Jacumba Valley—succumbed to the rampant border militarization experienced in the last decades, expediting the decline of an already aging cross-border infrastructure. What’s left are traces of its glorifying vision and challenging ambitions: wooden trestles and tunnels, and a few abandoned railroad cars along the way.