The craggy gray spire of Cooke's Peak, the highest point in the Cooke's Range at 8,404 feet, is a prominent landmark in southwestern New Mexico. Cooke's Spring on the southeast side of the range is one of just a few perennial springs in this part of New Mexico. It was the only large supply of fresh water between Mesilla and the Mimbres River for wagons heading to California on the Southern Emigrant Trail as well as the later Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route. The Cooke's Spring Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail was located near Cooke's Spring from 1858 to 1861. Fort Cummings was built nearby in 1863 to protect travelers from Apache attacks; the fort was occupied by the U.S. Army off and on until the late 1880s.