| So with the fender bender still very fresh in my mind, I was back on the road. There were a couple of other ghost towns I wanted to find. Another bumpy dirt road. This one had... |
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| ...cows! |
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| Tracks lead off in the distance, but nary a train to be found. If I am correct, these rails lead to Tucumcari, so I could have walked the tracks to the motel where I would spend the night. Then again the distance from Dawson to Tucumcari is over 150 miles, so I would have been late. |
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| There isn't much remaining in Dawson.
John Barkley Dawson purchased over 24,000 acres of land in 1869 and
lives there with his family for over thirty years. In 1901 the coal
mine in Dawson was opened and following the purchase by the Phelps
Dodge Company in 1906 the town really grew. In addition to modern
homes, the town had its own newspaper, theatre, hotel, hospital,
baseball park, golf course, bowling alley, community swimming pool
and more. They even had successful high school football and
basketball teams and the school bands were a source of pride. On October 22, 1913, an explosion in the mine killed 263 miners and ten years later on February 8, 1923 another explosion killed 122 men. |
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| The town didn't die after the explosions, but when the mine eventually closed in 1950 Phelps Dodge sold the town, buildings and all. All that is left now is this cemetery where most of the men killed in the explosions are buried, many of whom were immigrants from Europe. |
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| Nearby Dawson was a town called Colfax. I tried to find remnants of the old town but this was all I found. |
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| The original plan for the day was to visit Elizabethtown and then head to Dawson and Colfax. But wildfires in the area had the only road between Elizabethtown and Colfax closed, so that changed plans a bit. I skipped Elizabethtown and swapped it out for another attraction. This was probably a better idea. I don't know what kind of ruins are in Elizabethtown anyway. |
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| I initially thought when I saw a couple of these helicopters that they were carrying water to the fire site. However once I got closer to them I noticed that they weren't picking up water at all. They were at a small airport. Maybe they were practicing? |
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| There was an NRA facility along the way. Ahh, the NRA!!! They are out to kill innocent people everywhere!!! |
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| So here is where I went instead of Elizabethtown. It is an old extinct volcano. Fortunately there is a road that goes up to the rim. |
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 This is a view west from the top. It is over 8100' above sea level up here. |
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 And the view to the east. Just look at all that beautiful emptiness. |
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| Down there is the bottom of the crater, complete with old lava flow. I think the rocks in the foreground might also be some old lava as well. At least it looks like it. |
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| The Crater Rim Trail is a paved one-mile loop around the top of the volcano. There is a fairly steep hike up from the parking area. I got somewhat tuckered out on the way up, but at least I had sunscreen and water with me. |
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| There was a pretty big fire raging in the Durango, Colorado area, but I don't think this was it. I think this was the one that had that road closed I mentioned earlier and burned part of the Philmont scout camp. |
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