Charles A. Cook | |
---|---|
![]() Cook, circa 1862 | |
2nd Mayor of Denver | |
In office 1861–1863 | |
Preceded by | John C. Moore |
Succeeded by | Amos Steck |
Personal details | |
Born | Raleigh,North Carolina,U.S. |
Died | March 18,1878 Hot Springs,Arkansas,U.S. |
Resting place | Riverside Cemetery,Denver,Colorado |
Charles A. Cook (died March 18,1878) was an American politician. He was an early settler of present-day Colorado [1] and the second mayor of Denver. He was indicted and tried for conspiracy to defraud the government for falsifying names on homestead and pre-emption land claims and then selling the property. After the first trial,the case resulted in a hung jury. The charges were thrown out at the second trial.
Cook had owned land in the town of Highland,which he sold on December 6,1859. [1] He was the second mayor of Denver,Colorado,serving from November 1861,when Denver was part of the Kansas Territory, [2] [3] : 639 until April 1863. [3] : 639 [4] He succeeded John C. Moore, [5] who served as mayor 1859 to 1861 when Denver was part of the provisional Jefferson Territory. [3] : 323 Cook was one of the directors of the Butterfield Overland Dispatch Company,which provided stage coach and mail service through Denver,one of the original stockholders of First National Bank of Denver,and of the C.A. Cook and Company. [3] : 364, 834
In 1874,Cook was indicted for a land scandal,known as the Las Animas land grab. It involved land where farmers lived on the land that was originally part of two Mexican land grants with the consent of the owners. [6] : 132 Congress opened the land to pre-emption and homestead claims,but gave the farmers one year to file their claims. However,before they could file their claims,there was a claim made on the land due to a projected railroad line. The claim was later withdrawn,but it was after the one-year deadline for the farmers. [6] : 132 In the meantime,new claimants with false names had transferred the land to Robert E. Carr and David Moffat,who was a friend and banking partner of Cook's. Cook was a land office employee and was found to be involved,but Carr and Moffat were not initially implicated. [6] : 132 Cook,Moffat,and Irving W. Stanton were tried for conspiracy to defraud the government in 1875,and were represented by among the state's best attorneys. The case resulted in a hung jury. [7] The case was then tried in 1878 in the U.S. District Court,but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Most newspapers at the time reported it as a fraudulent land deal. [6] : 133
A bill went to the Supreme Court of the United States entitled Colorado Coal &Iron Company v. United States on January 22,1880. It was filed in the name of the United States by the attorney general to declare void and cancel 61 patents for land in Las Animas county amounting to a total of 9,565.95 acres. The Southern Colorado Coal &Town Company acquired the land to mine for coal. The Supreme Court stated that the question must be determined according to the facts in existence at the time of the sale. If upon the premises at that time there were not actual 'known mines' capable of being profitably worked for their product,so as to make the land more valuable for mining than for agriculture,a title to them acquired under the pre-emption act cannot be successfully assailed. In the present case,the testimony,in our opinion,does not justify us in finding that at the time Jackson acquired his title there were upon any part of the premises in controversy any 'known mines' of coal,in the sense of the statute. For these reasons the decree of the circuit court is reversed,and the cause remanded,with a direction to dismiss the bill;and it is so ordered. [8] [9]
He died on March 18,1878,while visiting Hot Springs,Arkansas to improve his faltering health. [10] His remains were returned to Colorado where he was buried in Denver's Riverside Cemetery on March 23,1878. [11]
Moffat County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,292. The county seat is Craig. With an area of 4,751 square miles, it is the second-largest county by area in Colorado, behind Las Animas County.
The City of Lafayette is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 30,411 at the 2020 United States Census.
The region that is today the U.S. State of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE.
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
William Austin Hamilton Loveland was a U.S. railroad entrepreneur and businessman in the late 19th century. An early resident of Golden when it was the capital of the Colorado Territory, he was one of the founders of the Colorado Central Railroad and a principal figure in the early history of Colorado. As president of the Colorado Central, he was instrumental in the expansion of the railroad network into the mining communities of Colorado. For much of the 1870s Loveland waged a fierce struggle with Union Pacific investors for control of the Colorado Central. He also served as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado.
The History of Denver details the history of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, the United States from its founding in 1858 to modern-day. Ever since the gold rush, Denver has been Colorado’s gateway and major metropolis. With its location at the intersection of the plains and the mountains, its people and institutions have tied together the sections of the state and served as a point of contact between Colorado and the wider world. As the state’s political capital and largest city, Denver has been the natural center for decision-making. New programs and ideas have typically spread outward through the public agencies and private organizations that have Denver headquarters.
Early coal mining in Colorado in the United States was spread across the state. Some early coal mining areas are currently inactive, including the Denver Basin and Raton Basin coal fields along the Front Range. There are currently 8 active coal mines, all in western Colorado.
Old Colorado City, formerly Colorado City, was once a town, but it is now a neighborhood within the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Its commercial district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It was founded during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859 and was involved in the mining industry, both as a supply hub and as a gold ore processing center beginning in the 1890s. Residents of Colorado City worked at some of the 50 coal mines of the Colorado Springs area. It was briefly the capital of the Colorado Territory. For many years, Colorado Springs prohibited the use of alcohol within its border due to the lifestyle of Colorado City's opium dens, bordellos, and saloons. It is now a tourist area, with boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants.
This is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. State of Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain Fuel Company was a coal mining company located in Colorado, operating mines in Louisville, Lafayette, and other locations northwest of Denver. The company also operated mines in Las Animas, Routt, Garfield and Gunnison counties. During the 1930s, the company was the second-largest producer of coal by volume in the state of Colorado. However, the company was severely impacted by the Great Depression, declining productivity of local coal deposits, and the increased popularity of natural gas, and went bankrupt in 1944.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Colorado:
Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado, was founded in 1890 and is Denver's second oldest operating cemetery after Riverside Cemetery. It is located in land south-east of the intersection of the major Denver roadways Alameda Ave. and Quebec St.. The cemetery was designed by German landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze. The cemetery was patterned after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts. The cemetery occupies 280 acres (110 ha). The first year the cemetery opened over 4500 trees and shrubs were planted by Schuetze. The cemetery is the largest arboretum in the state.
George Washington Swink, or G.W. Swink, (1836–1910) was a landowner and politician in Colorado and is said to have been the holder of the first timber claim certificate in the United States, issued by President Grover Cleveland on November 3, 1887.
The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the southern and central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) after years of deadly working conditions and low pay. The strike was marred by targeted and indiscriminate attacks from both strikers and individuals hired by CF&I to defend its property. Fighting was focused in the southern coal-mining counties of Las Animas and Huerfano, where the Colorado and Southern railroad passed through Trinidad and Walsenburg. It followed the 1912 Northern Colorado Coalfield Strikes.
James Harvey Crawford (1845-1930) was the founder of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He was a man of many vocations: soldier, farmer, pioneer, cattleman, miner, land developer, and politician. He was called the "Father of Steamboat Springs", and his wife Margaret Emerine (Bourn) Crawford was called the "Mother of Routt County".
Mary E. Miller (1843–1921) settled in the Territory of Colorado in 1863 with her husband, Lafayette Miller. After her husband died, she founded the town of Lafayette, Colorado, named for her husband. Miller was called the "Mother of Lafayette. She was the first woman bank president in the United States, a philanthropist and an astute businesswoman.
The 1876 Colorado gubernatorial election took place on October 3, 1876, to elect the 1st Governor of Colorado after the state was admitted to the union on August 1, 1876. Republican John Long Routt, last governor of the Colorado Territory, was elected in a close race against Democratic nominee Bela M. Hughes.