Don Burgess, Sierra Madre, 1964.
Don Burgess (1939-2022) is the author of numerous books about and for the Tarahumara of northern Mexico. Don was raised in Alpine, Texas, first worked in Mexico’s Sierra Madre when still in college, and has since spent a lifetime among the Ralámuli or Tarahumara people. He is a graduate of Alpine High and of Texas Western College (the University of Texas at El Paso). In 2008, he completed the first translation of the New Testament into Baja Tarahumara. His latest books concerning the Tarahumara culture include a bi-lingual Tarahumara-Spanish book on Tarahumara uses of corn and a book for the Tarahumara schools aimed at preserving the kinship system.
“On this episode of Talk at Ten, we speak to author and Alpine native Don Burgess. He’s the editor of the new book _Sierra Challenge: The Construction of the Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad_.”
““_Sierra Challenge_—the impossible dream” by Wally Gordon, The Independent of New Mexico and New Mexico Mercury.”
“I live so near Mexico, and have explored so little of it. The most spectacular scenery, hands down, is to be found in Copper Canyon/Barranco del Cobre, a maze of canyons that is so much deeper, wider and rougher than the Grand Canyon that it boggles the imagination. _Sierra Challenge_ documents the building of the Chihuahua al Pacifico (known as El Chepe) railroad that takes tourists through that rough territory to get a view at the spectacular scenery.”