Page 227 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

American product increased. As a result about 150
men labored at the mines. Their efforts produced
average shipments of from two to three railroad cars
mining industry until September 1912. Poe and Ida Mae Birchfreld (Figure 55) went ahead with their planned nuptials on September 24, 1896, even though her parents were unable to travel to Deming fromtheirranchbecauseofIndianthreats. Poebuilt a large frame house at Cooks, where their seven children were born. 139
The second factor to appear, as a result of the establishment of Cooks as a viable community, was violence. Unfortunately, with the scarcity of primary evidence for the 1880s and 1890s, the seriousness of this attribute cannot be properly as- sessed. Oneuncorroboratedsourceclaimedthat the first schoolteacher, Carl Simmons, was shot twice in the back one night as he entered the building used as his home and the Cooks schoolhouse. 14 Later records name only female schoolteachers.
Another unsubstantiated story concerned an alter- cation between Thomas Dennis and Joseph Eswell. Eswell advised Dennis that the lard he was applying to his boots would not render them waterproof, whereupon Dennis replied in a distinctively uncivil manner. This led to an increasingly heated exchange during which Eswell threatened to beat Dennis to death with a shovel. A third party broke up the argument, but as Eswell walked away, Dennis drew
141
a gun and killed him. Clearly, this was a case of
terminal lead poisoning.
per day.
The total value of the production for the
year, in lead and silver, was $216,000. Then, in
January 1891, a large body of carbonate ore was
struck at the Surprise Mine at Cooks, and a railroad-
car load was shipped every day. 136 Throughout the
remainder of 1891 the mines yielded an average of
800 tons per month.137
With the growth of Cooks, two other diverse fac- tors made an appearance. First, and on a positive note,apostofficewasestablishedAugust29,1888, although neither the first acting postmaster, John Corbett, nor his successor (three months later) A. L. Whiteside, was commissioned. McDaniel, the first of five commissioned postmasters, was ap- pointed J anuary 10, 1889. According to information on an old map (Figure 53) and a photograph (Figure 54) in the Deming-Luna County Mimbres Museum, the post office was moved, probably shortly after November 1891. Its proximity to the Summit Mine
may have had some influence in Charles Poe’s suc-
ceeding McDaniel as postmaster on June 28, 1893.
Poe was another early resident at Cooks, having filed on some claims in 1879 or 1880. He later established his family there and remained in the
Figure 52. Partial view of Cooks. Photo courtesy of the Deming-Luna Mimbres Museum. 213
Chapter 7