Cooke's Canyon is a valley and ephemeral stream on the eastern slope of the Cooke's Range in New Mexico, extending from north of Massacre Peak to its junction with Fort Cummings Draw. It was named for Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke, who led the Mormon Battalion from Santa Fe to San Diego during the Mexican War. On November 17, 1846, the battalion passed through the canyon while laying out Cooke's Wagon Road. That road later became a principal route of the Southern Emigrant Trail, aided by the canyon's upper section, which formed part of the narrow east-west passage known as Cooke's Pass.