| Cooney, New Mexico | |
| Settlement Type: | Ghost Town |
| Pushpin Map: | USA New Mexico#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Cooney |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the state of New Mexico |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | New Mexico |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Catron |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Population As Of: | 2000 |
| Population Total: | 0 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Mountain (MST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | MDT |
| Coordinates: | 33.4228°N -108.8078°W |
| Area Code: | 575 |
| Blank Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Cooney is a ghost town in Catron County, New Mexico, United States, east of Alma. Cooney was once home to gold and silver prospectors in the nearby Mogollon Mountains.
In the 1870s Sergeant James C. Cooney of Fort Bayard found a rich strand of gold in the Gila Mountains near the future site of Mogollon, New Mexico.[1] His find led to the development of several different mines in the area, as well as the settlement of the towns of Mogollon, Alma, and Glenwood.
Several settlers from Cooney were killed, including James Cooney, during an event called the Alma Massacre.[2] The town was washed away in a flood in 1911.[3]
See main article: article and Cooney's Tomb.
Cooney Cemetery is a small graveyard found near the Cooney townsite in an isolated area east of Alma, New Mexico. It is located in the southern part of Catron County, approximately seven miles east of Alma on County Road 7. Cooney Cemetery was created when James Cooney's brother, Captain Mike Cooney, and friends carved a sepulcher out of a rock in the canyon where he was killed and buried him there, sealing the tomb with the silver-bearing ore taken from the mine he discovered. The main part of the cemetery is located behind the above tomb and contains seven burials.[4] [5]
In 1980 Earth First! erected a monument dedicated to Victorio for his successful raid on Cooney and the killing of Cooney and his men. It read, in part,