Dawson NM
On 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,…
For 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…
In 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…
On Tuesday afternoon, Italians will gather at a church in the Province of Modena to observe the National Day of the Sacrifice of the Italian Workers in the World. And when they do, the Dawson mine disasters of 1913 and 1923 will be a key part of it. That’s because Manlio Badiali, a Pompeano resident…
“Over One Million Tons of Coal Produced From Dawson Mines During the Year 1923” “Dawson Boy Scouts Build New Club House” “Dawson Schools Rank with Best in the State” These were among the headlines that appeared in a pictorial supplement issued in the spring of 1924 by The Dawson News, the town’s weekly newspaper. While more company-run house…
When I began to work on Crosses of Iron, I knew there would be some aspects of the story that would require a lot of time to piece together. The peak population of Dawson wasn’t one of them.Not only was I mistaken, but even now, with the book only months from its October release, I…
Dawson Cemetery wasn’t the only setting in February to remember the 120 men killed in the mine disaster of 1923. Across the Atlantic, some 5,500 miles away, the 100-year anniversary of the deadly explosion was marked by stories and photographs in Italian newspapers, including a major daily serving the province of Modena in northern Italy. The…
“God bless their souls. May their memories be eternal.” With that, Bishop Constantine of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver concluded a solemn memorial service to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Feb. 8, 1923, mine disaster under sunny skies and springlike temperatures at historic Dawson Cemetery. One hundred and twenty miners lost their lives in…
The news item couldn’t have been more innocuous. Thomas Brown and David Murphy of Dawson, N.M., who were in Albuquerque Monday, left for home by automobile yesterday. That snippet appeared in the Albuquerque Morning Journal on Feb. 27, 1918, sandwiched between word that Texas cattleman U. Keen was in town for a few days and…
For first-graders from the Forrester Elementary School in Springer, New Mexico, this was no ordinary field trip. Teachers Genevieve Hoskins and Zella Young had something more imaginative in mind for their young charges that day than a traditional visit to a historical site or museum: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make some history of their own.…