Crosses of Iron
The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters
by Nick Pappas
Foreword by Richard Melzer
Published by: University of New Mexico Press
Now, to mark the centennial of the second disaster, veteran journalist Nick Pappas tells the tragic story of what was once New Mexico's largest and most modern company town and of how the strong, determined residents of the community coped with two heartbreaking catastrophes.
Nick Pappas is an award-winning journalist who dedicated more than forty years of his life to newspapers, most recently as an editor at the Albuquerque Journal. A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, he now lives with his wife in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Richard Melzer is a regents professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico's Valencia Campus. A former president of the Historical Society of New Mexico, Melzer is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Ernie Pyle in the American Southwest, Captain Maximiliano Luna: A New Mexico Rough Rider, and A History of New Mexico Since Statehood (UNM Press).
"An engrossing tale of the rise, the flowering and contributions, the disasters, and the memories of Dawson, a very important coal-mining site in northern New Mexico."--Richard W. Etulain, editor of New Mexican Lives: Profiles and Historical Stories
Richard Melzer
Preface
Chapter 1. Entombed
Chapter 2. The Birth of Dawson
Chapter 3. The Early Years
Chapter 4. A Model Community
Chapter 5. The Immigrants
Chapter 6. Danger in the Mines
Chapter 7. October 22, 1913
Chapter 8. The Burials
Chapter 9. The Sorrow
Chapter 10. The Cause
Chapter 11. The Inquest
Chapter 12. Back to Normal
Chapter 13. Oh, No, Not Again!
Chapter 14. What Happened This Time?
Chapter 15. Writing on the Wall
Chapter 16. Closing Time
Chapter 17. Dawson Cemetery
Chapter 18. Down Memory Lane
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Killed in the Explosion of October 22, 1913
Killed in the Explosion of February 8, 1923
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Upcoming Events
Crosses of Iron Signing and Presentation at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum
Saturday. July 13, 2024 | 2:00 pm
Tucumcari Railroad Museum | 100 Railroad Avenue, Tucumcari, NM 88401
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