Cooke's Canyon

Cooke's Canyon or Cookes Canyon, a valley and ephemeral stream, located on the eastern slope of the Cooke's Range in Luna County, New Mexico. It has its source at 32°28′20″N 107°40′47″W / 32.47222°N 107.67972°W / 32.47222; -107.67972 north of Massacre Peak. The mouth of Cooke's Canyon is at its confluence with Fort Cummings Draw.[1]

Cooke's Canyon is named for Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke, who commanded the Mormon Battalion from Santa Fe to San Diego, California during the Mexican War. Their task was to establish a wagon road, which later was called Cooke's Wagon Road, and became the primary route used by the Southern Emigrant Trail. The Mormon Battalion crossed Cooke's Canyon on 17 November 1846.[2] The upper part of Cooke's Canyon is part of what was called Cooke's Pass, a narrow gap, running east and west, through which the Southern Emigrant Trail passed through Cooke's Range.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cookes Canyon
  2. ↑ Cooke's Journal, Senate Documents, 1849

Coordinates: 32°25′08″N 107°36′01″W / 32.41889°N 107.60028°W / 32.41889; -107.60028

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.