Héroe de Nacozari station

Neighbouring stations

• 3Line 3Cuitláhuac ← Héroe de Nacozari → Hospital La Raza

The story behind the icon

What is now the city of Nacozari was founded in 1660 with the discovery of the mines that surround it; the name originally given to it was Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Nacozari, and the wealth of the mines drew a large population, above all from 1867 onwards. The main mineral worked was copper, which was carried out on a line of wagons pushed by mules until, in 1904, the railway was completed linking Nacozari in Sonora with Agua Prieta and Douglas in Arizona; the abundance of ore made it one of the main towns in north-eastern Sonora.

The event that made Nacozari known nationally and worldwide was the accident of 7 November 1907. Jesús García Corona was born on 2 December 1881 in Hermosillo, Sonora, where he studied and learned the mechanic's trade from his father; work took him to Nacozari when he was 20 years old. On arriving he worked in the copper mines, where he was a member of the workers' society board. His wish was to work on the railways, and to that end he applied to join the company as a fireman, being assigned to the railway covering the Agua Prieta to Nacozari and Pilares routes. Some time later he was promoted to engine driver. On 7 November it was not Jesús García Corona's turn to drive the train, but his colleague reported sick and he had to take charge of the three scheduled runs between the town of Nacozari and the Pilares mine. The train stood in front of the station loaded with two wagons of dynamite used for mining excavations when it accidentally caught fire from sparks thrown out by the locomotive's boiler. Panic spread quickly at the station, and it was then that Jesús set the engine in motion, averting disaster; most of the train's crew jumped and managed to save themselves, but not Jesús García, who stayed at the head of the locomotive until the dynamite wagons finally exploded far from the town. The force of the explosion devastated the area and killed 13 people; the blast wave shattered windows and shook the houses, and so great was it that the locomotive disappeared completely — yet hundreds were saved because the driver chose to take the burning convoy away from the town.

For this Jesús García was regarded as a hero, known ever since as "The Hero of Nacozari". He was declared a Hero of Humanity by the American Royal Cross of Honor of Washington, and the famous corrido "Máquina 501" was written about him. Streets, schools, squares and monuments throughout Mexico bear his name, and in his memory 7 November is commemorated in our country as Railwayman's Day. The town was renamed in his honour as Nacozari de García.

What's near Héroe de Nacozari

• Terminal Central de Autobuses del Norte