Dawson Mining Disasters

Remembering the Victims

"May their Memory be Eternal"

The town of Dawson, located in Colfax County, New Mexico, was built by the Phelps Dodge mining company in 1906. It flourished during the first half of the 20th century, with ten coal mines and numerous coal processing plants and loading terminals in constant operation.

At its peak, around 1920, Dawson had a population of 9,000, making it one of the biggest cities in New Mexico. It boasted a school, hospital, movie theater, department store, and public swimming pool. In 1950, with demand for coal declining and production from the Dawson mines dwindling, Phelps Dodge decided to shut down the town. The residents were evicted, and the buildings were razed. All that remained was the cemetery, filled with white-painted iron crosses marking the graves of men who died working in the mines.

Most of the miners laid to rest in the Dawson cemetery were victims of two terrible disasters. The first of these took place on October 22, 1913, when a powerful explosion tore through Stag Canyon Mine No. 2, killing 263 men. Nine years later, a similar explosion devastated Stag Canyon Mine No. 1; this time, 123 men died.

Many of the miners who fell victim to the 1913 and 1923 blasts were recent immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Because there was no Orthodox church in Dawson, these men were buried without the benefit of an Orthodox Christian funeral service. For more than 70 years, no memorial service was conducted for their repose.

That situation changed in the mid-1990s when Ed Chacon, a Saint Elias the Prophet parishioner and New Mexico history buff, organized an outing to the Dawson cemetery for the purpose of performing a memorial service. At the cemetery, Father Gabriel Nicholas chanted the Kontakion of the Departed and led the assembled parishioners in the final singing of "Memory Eternal."

In recent years, memorial visits to the Dawson cemetery have become a Saint Elias tradition. On October 27, 2013, a large interdenominational service, organized by Georgia Maryol, a prominent member of the Santa Fe Greek-American community, was held at the cemetery to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Dawson mine disaster. Father Dimitri Pappas represented Saint Elias the Prophet at the service, which was also attended by Father Ambrose Omaias, assistant administrator of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver.