Jonathan Thompson on Muck Rack

Jonathan Thompson

West Virginia
As seen in: High Country News, The Land Desk, CNN, MSN, Yahoo Life, Daily Mail, Irish Daily Mail, Yahoo News Malaysia, Aol, Substack, American Chemical Society, Yahoo Style Canada and
Jonathan P. Thompson: LandDesk.org; author of River of Lost Souls, Behind the Slickrock Curtain, Sagebrush Empire; contributing ed. @highcountrynews;
Back to Jonathan Thompson’s profile

Jonathan Thompson’s Journalist Portfolio

View as a grid

Silverton's Gold King reckoning

Silverton's Gold King reckoning

High Country News — On the morning of Aug. 5, 2015, a deep pool of acidic, metal-laden water was backed up behind debris in the Level 7 adit of the Gold King Mine on the slope of Bonita Peak, roughly 10 miles north of Silverton, Colorado. The pool had been rising for years, imprisoned in the dark of the mine, yearning, as all water does, to be free.
Who shared?

Lessons from boom and bust in New Mexico

Lessons from boom and bust in New Mexico

High Country News — Wet snow splatters on my windshield as I drive from Durango, Colorado, toward Aztec, New Mexico, on a January morning. As the highway crosses the state line, the cultural landscape changes. Humanity's detritus is jumbled together in an oddly organic, entropic way: A rusty gas well tank nudges a rotting wood shack next to a trailer, with tires on its roof; seven cars overgrown with weeds huddle together out front like old friends having coffee. Then there's New Mexico's penchant for signs - from big billboards to quirky little placards - which makes for a more interesting, if less aesthetically pleasing, drive.
Who shared?

The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs

The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs

High Country News — On the morning of May 10, 2014, San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge waited on horseback in the sagebrush of Recapture Canyon in southeastern Utah. In his faded jeans, boots and white cowboy hat, he looked as if he were out for a casual ride in the cool spring air. But what appeared to be a bulletproof vest underneath his shirt and the 30-odd deputies scattered amid the canyon's scrub oak and sandstone hinted at a different story. Eldredge and his deputies were braced for a mass act of motorized civil disobedience.
Who shared?

Unlocking the mystery of the Four Corners Methane Hot Spot

Unlocking the mystery of the Four Corners Methane Hot Spot

High Country News — A silver van rolls slowly down a narrow road on the edge of the small town of Bayfield, Colorado, a farming-turned-bedroom community 20 miles east of Durango. With its darkly tinted windows and government plates, the van has an ominous appearance, not helped by the long, fishing-pole-like appendage, accessorized with wires and tubes, that extends from its top. Impatient drivers pull around the creeping vehicle, peering suspiciously as they pass. Just behind the local high school, the van stops abruptly, then reverses, then pulls forward again onto the shoulder before stopping.
Who shared?

Gold King Mine water was headed for the Animas, anyway

Gold King Mine water was headed for the Animas, anyway

High Country News — If the media frenzy is any indication, the Upper Gold King Mine blowout of Aug. 5 has become the West's pollution event of the year, maybe even the decade. And in a frenzy there is bound to be confusion, especially when it comes to something as complicated as mine-related pollution. As the world watched the plume make its way downstream, the reporting on it gained clarity, but errors - most based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the root cause of the "spill" - persist.
Who shared?

When our river turned orange

When our river turned orange

High Country News — "The question that is crowding upon Durango thick and fast is one of water. The mill slimes from Silverton are now reaching us." -- Durango Democrat, 1899 On a scorcher of an August afternoon, a crowd gathered on a bridge over the deep-green waters of the Animas River on the north end of Durango, Colorado. A passerby might have thought they were watching a sporting event, perhaps a kayak race or a flotilla of inebriated, scantily clad inner tubers. Yet the river that afternoon was eerily empty of rowers, paddlers or floaters - unheard of on a day like this - and the mood among the onlookers was sombre.
Who shared?

Two-wheel revolution in Gallup

Two-wheel revolution in Gallup

www.hcn.org — GALLUP, NEW MEXICO If you doubt the power of bikes to transform a place, consider the saga of the Brickyard, a sunken, vacant lot spanning nearly three blocks east of downtown in a mostly residential district of this small New Mexico city. Up until about 1960, it was home to the kilns that cooked the bricks for Gallup's historic homes and businesses. After it shut down, time and neglect claimed the few remaining structures, and weeds and scraggly trees moved in, followed by drinkers and vagrants.
Who shared?

The power grid may determine whether we can kick our carbon habit

The power grid may determine whether we can kick our carbon habit

High Country News — Minutes before 4 p.m. on a sizzling September day two years ago, right at the time when they were most needed, San Diego's air conditioners suddenly died. Thousands of television and computer screens also flickered into darkness. Stoplights stopped working, gas stations ceased pumping, and traffic slowed to a snarl. Trains ground to a halt and planes idled on the runway. Wastewater treatment pumps shut down, spewing some 4 million gallons of raw sewage into the Pacific. Around 2.7 million "customers" -- amounting to anywhere from 5 to 7 million people -- lost their power, with some remaining in darkness for 12 hours or more.
Who shared?

Actions

Share this page

Is this you?

As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile

Get in touch with Jonathan

Contact Jonathan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified