Cotopaxi Colorado: Russian Jewish Colony

Description of Photos: click description for larger photograph

Top Left: Cotopaxi as seen looking north-west from the hill behind the Cotopaxi church.

Top Right: View from Cotopaxi looking west through the canyon.

Bottom Left: Looking west from the "Mow" ranch towards areas of the large black-shaded area of map.

Bottom Center: BLM map with approximate colony lands shaded black. Related Map Page

Bottom Right: Looking south over part of the lower colony lands.

Quick Look - Cotopaxi History Mrs. Elizabeth Gulliford's Account of Cotopaxi

Just how rough was early Cotopaxi? Coming soon - a murder mystery!

The Cotopaxi Colony: A Thesis by Flora Jane Satt

With permission from Flora Jane Satt, her thesis "The Cotopaxi Colony" is being posted here.

This thesis contains a good history of Cotopaxi, and I think this is the best source of info on the Cotopaxi Colony.

Much credit is due to my wife, Cruz, for entering most of the thesis into MS Word documents. As time permits, more will be posted online.

Update: December 2009: my sister Jen Lowe has entered Part VI - Bibliography and it is now posted on the thesis page! Jen has also done a tremendous about of research and is compiling the Cotopaxi colonist's genealogy.

Jen's IF-Then Blog If you think it didn't happen

concerning the Jews of Brest Litovsk

that did not come to Cotopaxi

the Holocaust:

"....when you do genealogy and see that an entire family of 3 generations ALL died on the very same day.....
you know that it is real."

Proof Saltiel used the colonists for cheap labor - he didn't pay them! posted 1-13-2010

coming soon: Were the Colonists Hassidim or Haskalah?

and

Congregation bnia Shalom, Cotopaxi, Colorado 1882

Cotopaxi Colorado: A Road Marker for the Return to Jerusalem?

with excerpts from Ramban and Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer

The Descendant's Page Their "What's New?" Page!

The People - List of the Cotopaxi Colonists new!

Schradsky Family Descendants new!

Schneider (Snyder) Family and Descendants new!

Milstein - Shuteran - Prezant Families & Descendants new!

Kinship Report for Menashe Milstein new!

Milstein-Shames Descendant chart really new!

The Land Declarations new!

Colony Lands - Map of Colonist's Plots - identified by name new!

The Cemetery Page a new fence!

A special Thank You to Jerry and Judy Klinger

with the

Jewish American Society For Historic Preservation (JASHP)

For Their Kind Act

of

Funding this Project

A panoramic view of the "upper" colony site.

Click to enlarge!

This represents a bit more than 180 degrees.

On the left side, the view is towards the north,
the center part represents the easterly view,
and on the right side, towards the south.

Emanuel Saltiel page

Hero or villain?
Both!?!?

Just a quick look: Wanted in Montana
and
Emanuel Saltiel's "Sweated Labor" (Jewish Colonists) new!

No smooth talking is going get in the way of history on this site.

But I think the bottom line will be:
Although not likely his intent, Saltiel helped some Jews get out of Russia at a time that saved them from immediate Russian government oppression and also saved them from the future Holocaust.
In this light, Saltiel's good BY FAR out weighs his not-so-good.
Crook, shyster, con man ? Absolutely. It's well documented.
Genius? Absolutely!!!

But if one Jewish life was saved by his actions, even inadvertently, then he is elevated far above many others.
This is the proper view of Emanuel Harris Saltiel.

Coming soon - The Gold Tom connection! developing!

1882

Saltiel OWNED Cotopaxi.

Tid Bits

Above, The Cotopaxi Mine Built by Peter Young in 1919.
Burned down in 1956.

This was later (note vehicle) than the time of the Cotopaxi Colony.

Researching Canon City Historical Center records

Microfishing Findings:

Fremont County Leader, Sept 2, 1882:

"Married.

Chuturin-Snyder - On August

25, by Rev D. Grupitzky, Mr. Marcus

Chuturin and Miss Fanny Snyder,

both of Cotopaxi, Colo."

Thinking: D. Grupitzky probably was David Korpitsky. BUT maybe not..... developing...

Chuturin = Shuteran etc, Snyder = Schneider

Note: "Rev" - you gotta have a sense of humour. Stupid gentiles anyway.

(disclaimer: I'm just a gentile!)

********************

We Have Found: The Beehive Mine

Photo: an old crib in an old shed in Cotopaxi...

Julius Schwartz, March 2, 1883 letter to HEAS:

"Now the facts are, that only six
of the houses are constructed on town lots,"

(so this should be read - six of the shacks Saltiel built were within the Cotopaxi townsite.)

"The houses are double-boarded with tar paper between them, are sixteen by twenty feet and are twelve feet high in the center"

in other words....they were clapboard/tarpaper shacks....

At some point, we will have to take a look at just where these properties were.

Local rancher, educator, historian and author Nancy Oswald has finished her fiction novel about the Jewish Colony. To read an excerpt of her book, Nothing Here But Stones, go to her website: click here!

It's a great book!!!

Our other Cotopaxi Colony pages

Cotopaxi, Colorado: Russian Jewish Colony

Welcome!

Shalom!

Quick Look - Cotopaxi History Mrs. Elizabeth Gulliford's Account of Cotopaxi

With permission from Flora Jane Satt, her thesis "The Cotopaxi Colony" is being posted here.

Our other Cotopaxi Colony pages

Links

Additional information on the Jewish colony in Cotopaxi Colorado.

Maps and Photos

Cotopaxi Colony articles, documents and websites

Miscellaneous

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