Deming, New Mexico, has been an essential stop for transcontinental travelers for centuries. First, wagon roads went through the area in service of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company. On the same route, Fort Cummings was established for the protection of these wagon trains. Later, Deming marked the site of the joining of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which created the second transcontinental railroad in March 1881. This attracted numerous entrepreneurs and settlers to Deming. The railroad was also significant in the establishment of two military installations, Camp Cody (World War I) and Deming Army Air Field (World War II). After the war, Highway 70-80 brought many tourists to Deming until Interstate 10 was built in the 1960s. Deming's location, along with the railroad and highway system, created an economic climate that has brought people to the area for centuries in search of their place in the American West.