Dawson, New Mexico was a mining town founded in 1901 when rancher John Barkley Dawson sold his coal-rich land in northern New Mexico to the Dawson Fuel Company. A railroad was built connecting the town to Tucumcari, New Mexico. The mines were bountiful, and by 1905 the town boasted a population of nearly 2000. Tucumcari is a city located in Quay County, New Mexico. ...

In 1906 the mines were purchased by the Phelps Dodge Corporation. The corporation was determined to make Dawson an ideal company town, and to that end built homes for the miners, and numerous other facilities including a hospital, department store, swimming pool, movie theatre, and a golf course. With these attractions, the corporation was able to maintain a stable employment rate despite the inherent dangers of mining. Phelps Dodge Corporation (NYSE: PD) was founded in 1834 by Anson Greene Phelps and William E. Dodge. ...

On October 22, 1913, the mine suffered its first disaster. Stag Canyon Mine No. 2 was shaken by an explosion that was felt two miles away in the town proper. Relief teams rushed in from surrounding communities, but of the 286 men who arrived to work in the Stag Canyon mine that morning, only 23 survived. Two rescuers died during the rescue effort.

It was determined that the explosion was caused by a dynamite charge igniting coal dust in the mine - a flagrant violation of mining safety laws.

Despite this disaster, Dawson continued as a successful mining town. Then, on February 8, 1923, Stag Canyon Mine No. 1 suffered an explosion. A mine cart jumped its tracks and ignited coal dust in the mine. 123 men were killed in this explosion, many of them children of the men who died in 1913.

Astonishingly, Dawson did not become a ghost town until 1950, when the Phelps Dodge Corporation shut down the mine. The entire town was sold or razed, and so today the only significant remaining landmark in Dawson is the cemetery, full of iron crosses marking the graves of men who died in the mines.

References

• [1] Legends of America - Dawson, NM
• [2] Ghost Town Gallery - Dawson, NM