Cookes Range
Encyclopedia
The Cookes Range is a small 17-mi (27 km) long, mountain range
in the north of Luna County
, New Mexico
. The north of the range extends slightly north into southeast Grant County
. The range is a continuation of a south extension of the Mimbres Mountains, a southeast portion of the extensive north south Black Range
.
The range and the region is surrounded by lower elevation areas of the northwest Chihuahuan Desert
, the large desert at the north of the Mexican Plateau
and encompassing much of Chihuahua state, Mexico
.
Cookes Range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
in the north of Luna County
Luna County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*77.7% White*1.1% Black*1.3% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.6% Two or more races*16.8% Other races*61.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. The north of the range extends slightly north into southeast Grant County
Grant County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*84.9% White*0.9% Black*1.4% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.8% Two or more races*9.8% Other races*48.3% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
. The range is a continuation of a south extension of the Mimbres Mountains, a southeast portion of the extensive north south Black Range
Black Range
The Black Range is an igneous mountain range running north-south in Sierra and Grant counties in west-central New Mexico, in the southwestern United States. Its central ridge forms the western and eastern borders, respectively, of the two counties through much of their contact...
.
The range and the region is surrounded by lower elevation areas of the northwest Chihuahuan Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert, and an ecoregion designation, that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra...
, the large desert at the north of the Mexican Plateau
Mexican Plateau
The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano or Altiplanicie Mexicana, is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico...
and encompassing much of Chihuahua state, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Description
Cookes Range is about 17 mi long, and about 8 mi at its widest. It is discontinuous, with a center-north section where Cookes Peak, 8408 feet (2,563 m) is located, at the origin of OK Canyon, which exits the range eastwards. Adjacent the ridges south of OK Canyon is a transverse ridgeline, across the range, west to east, named Rattlesnake Ridge. One other larger peak occurs in the discontinuous mountains and hills in the south region, Massacre Peak, at 5667 feet (1,727 m). Other outlying lower elevation hills occur, east and west, in the north section, as the Cookes Range merges into the lower elevations of the Mimbres Mountains section of the Black Range.External links
PeaksCookes Range