AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Arizona daily independent circulation8/16/2023 ![]() ![]() We got in half a mile until it looked like we would get stuck and never be able to come out. We packed up into a pickup truck and drove as far as we could on what used to be Main Street, a pretty bumpy passable road. ![]() It was myself, and at the time, the president of the Dawson, New Mexico Association, a gentleman who grew up in the town, and his wife. There’s nothing left, a few foundations, maybe a house or two, and some rubble where some buildings were. I could finally do that in September a couple of years ago. “I tracked down the manager, told him I was working on the book, and asked if I could come in someday. It’s a private ranch that you need permission to get on the property.” I finally saw the town site for the first time last year. They hired an Arizona salvage company to bulldoze over whatever was left. They closed the town and the last mine in 1950. Phelps Dodge Corporation owned it for most of that time. They had an opera house and a huge 3-story mercantile store. It was modern in all respects, with businesses and recreation. Originally in its heyday, the company-owned town had at least 6,000 people living there. “Dawson, New Mexico, at its peak, had ten mines both happened in Dawson, not the same mines. ![]() We began our conversation with Nick talking about Dawson and the mining industry. With the meticulous skill of a seasoned journalist, Pappas draws us into the lives of those who lived in the company town of Dawson, New Mexico. The book explores the tragedy by looking at the miners, who were mainly immigrants from Italy and Greece, among other nations, and diving into their lives and how so many came to New Mexico to mine coal and face coal dust and the accompanying respiratory issues, black lung disease, possible collapses and explosions in the mines that would snake their way into the earth for a mile or more. Nick’s new book, Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters, will be published this fall by the University of New Mexico Press. In the 1913 explosion, 263 miners were killed. He became aware of the tragedies when the Journal explored the 100 th anniversary of the first mine explosion. Nick knew he had to continue to work and, as he says, stay out of his wife’s hair, which led him to explore two mine disasters that happened in Dawson, New Mexico in 1913 and again in 1923. He resumed his newspaper career at the Albuquerque Journal, the largest circulation daily newspaper in New Mexico. Understanding Nick’s level of newspaper experience in the years he was in the Granite State he was named Editorial Writer of the Year by the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2009 and again in 2011 and “was recognized by the New Hampshire Press Association with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.” In 2013 Nick moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be closer to family. He explained those who disagreed with the call were Obama supporters and, “For them, it was a betrayal.” We endorsed Mitt Romney for president.” Such were the issues for a newspaperman who was charged with writing opinions, especially opinions in a hot election time in New Hampshire. He wrote on November 11, “We didn’t run a corpse photo on the front page. In that role in 2012, the paper ran an editorial causing the ire of the Nashua readers to call in and cancel their subscriptions. Part One: New Hampshire newspaperman, Nick Pappas, explores the mine disasters.ĪLBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: For nearly 24 years, Nick Pappas worked at the Nashua Telegraph as editor including business editor, city editor, and editorial page editor. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |