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Seems like just yesterday.
In reality, it has been nearly five years since I wrote a story that the Dawson Elk Valley Ranch had been put on the market for the tidy asking price of $96 million.
To put that into some context, I wrote that while I was in the early stages of researching the history of Dawson and more than a year before I signed a contract with the University of New Mexico Press to publish Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters.
So you can imagine my reaction when I came across an online story in mid-December with the headline: “Dawson Elk Valley Ranch Purchased by US Forest Service/Nature Conservancy for $66.7 million.”
As it turns out, the headline wasn’t entirely accurate. But it was enough to launch me on a six-week, fact-finding crusade to compile a story for my website to be shared on social media.
Before doing so, however, I reached out last week to a former colleague at the Albuquerque Journal to see if the paper would have any interest in publishing my story first.
The response: “We’d love it.”
A few days later, the story appeared as the A-1 centerpiece in the Journal’s Sunday edition.
The key takeaway: “The Nature Conservancy has entered into an agreement to purchase the Dawson Elk Valley Ranch in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Flower Hill Institute, a Jemez Pueblo-based nonprofit dedicated to the cultural preservation of tribal history.”
You can read the full story here.
Now I can’t say all future stories will appear in the Journal.
But I can promise to use this space to keep you informed not only of the sale, but of the new owners’ eventual management plans for the historic townsite.
Blog Archive
Seems like just yesterday. In reality, it has been nearly five years since I wrote a story that the Dawson Elk Valley Ranch had been put on the market for the tidy asking price of $96 million. To put that into some context, I wrote that while I was in the early stages of researching…
Read MoreI’ll go pretty much anywhere to speak about Dawson. So I didn’t give distance a second thought when I was invited to present this month at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M., roughly a 130-mile, one-way trip from my Albuquerque home. Gary Torres did me one better. The 72-year-old son of a coal…
Read MoreWhere to begin? That’s the challenge in trying to describe what it was like to attend this year’s biennial Dawson reunion over Labor Day weekend on the old townsite. Two years ago, when I came to my first reunion, I was about a month away from submitting the final version of my manuscript to the…
Read MoreA funny thing happened moments into my Dawson book presentation Saturday afternoon at the Tucumcari Railroad Museum. A roaring freight train rushed by the depot, interrupting my talk and prompting laughter among the roughly 50 folks in attendance. “That seems appropriate,” I said, before playfully pointing to a gentleman in the audience. “Frank, that was…
Read MoreAs a first-time book author, I will forever be grateful to the writers and publications that have published positive reviews of Crosses of Iron since its release by the University of New Mexico Press this past October. That includes David Steinberg at the Albuquerque Journal, Jim Frost at the New Mexico Genealogist and David Caffey…
Read MoreThis list will be updated as new events are confirmed. No presentations or book signings are scheduled at this time.
Read MoreTwo years ago, while making revisions to my manuscript, I remember receiving a marketing questionnaire from a University of New Mexico Press publicist, seeking my input on marketing my upcoming book, Crosses of Iron. Among the questions: “Do you know of any awards for which your book qualifies that should be considered for submission? Please…
Read MoreEven in today’s uncertain times, there are certain things you can count on: The sun will rise in the East. Thanksgiving will fall on a Thursday. And, if it’s an even year, Dawson folks will come together for another reunion. So it came as no surprise to learn last week that the Dawson New Mexico…
Read MoreA funny thing happened a few weeks ago when I attended a book-signing event for a former Albuquerque Journal colleague. I was invited to do one of my own. On Feb. 17, I drove to the Martha Liebert Public Library in Bernalillo, New Mexico, to show my support for Rosalie Rayburn, whom I met during…
Read MoreDavid Caffey is no stranger to Dawson, New Mexico, having worked for a time as a chief ranger for the Philmont Scout Ranch in nearby Cimarron. That’s why I’m particularly grateful for his review of Crosses of Iron that appeared last month in High Country, the bimonthly magazine of the Philmont Staff Association. Coincidentally, I mentioned…
Read MoreTwo days after Christmas, I received an email from Jim Frost, editor of the New Mexico Genealogist, notifying me that his review of Crosses of Iron was published in the December issue of the New Mexico Genealogical Society’s quarterly journal. I got to know Jim as a colleague during my time at the Albuquerque Journal. He…
Read MoreDawson Cemetery visitors will notice something different as they approach the historic burial ground this year. The mailbox that used to contain a notebook for visitors to record their impressions has been replaced by a more decorative memorial box designed and constructed by two New Mexico men with Denver roots. Philip Cavos Jr., a welder…
Read MoreI’d like to express my appreciation to Deborah Kalb for featuring my interview about Crosses of Iron on her book blog last week. Kalb, a former Washington journalist and author in her own right, has published “Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb” since 2012. My Q&A can be found here.
Read MoreI’d like to thank host Russell Contreras and the staff at New Mexico PBS station KNME-TV for inviting me to talk about my new book, Crosses of Iron: The Tragic History of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. The interview aired Dec. 8 on the station’s New Mexico in Focus program. Both the…
Read MoreWhen I started work on Crosses of Iron four years ago, one of my biggest fears was that one or more of the people I would come to know might not be with us by the time the book came out. That wasn’t me being paranoid. It was a realization that many of the people I…
Read MoreThe Dawson Elk Valley Ranch is back in the news. Under the headline “Aging Billionaire Cowboys Are Now Selling Their Iconic American Ranches,” Forbes magazine published a story in September that listed the nation’s nine largest ranches currently on the market. The old Dawson townsite made the list at No. 5 by size (50,000 acres)…
Read MoreI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m always amazed at the number of people I meet at speaking engagements who have a direct or indirect link to Dawson. That was true before Crosses of Iron was released, and it’s certainly true now that the book is available online and at New Mexico bookstores. Cases…
Read MoreOn Oct. 3, two days after the official release of Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters by the University of New Mexico Press, SouthWest Writers published a Q&A interview with me about the book on its website. SouthWest Writers, which was founded in the early 1980s,…
Read MoreFor a first-time author, you can’t ask for more than to open your local Sunday newspaper and find a review of your new book — and a good one at that. Especially on the exact day of the book’s official release. But that’s what happened on Oct. 1 when I opened to the books section…
Read MoreIn early September, I received an email from Sharon Niederman asking if I would be willing to meet with her to talk about the upcoming release of my book, Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. Naturally, I said “yes,” and we met a few days later…
Read MoreCrosses of Iron
by Nick Pappas
Now available to order from:
University of New Mexico Press
… and other booksellers.
Audiobook version available to order from …
… and other audiobook sellers.
