Colorado Matters Interviews About Cotopaxi, Colo.

On Colorado Public Radio’s Colorado Matters, Dan Meyers interviewed Jeanne Abrams, Director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, and Miles Sa;tiel about the failed agricultural colony in Cotopaxi Colorado. From 1882-1884, Cotopaxi was the site of an agricultural colony of Russian Jewish immigrants. After the ill-fated colony disbanded in 1884, most of the colonists move to Denver, forming the nucleus of the city’s west side Jewish Community.

Miles Saltiel recently wrote an article for the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Notes on the Cotopaxi Colony and used some newly discovered primary resources to “rebalance the record.”

To listen to the interviews online, go to http://cpr.org/co_matters/, click on January 4, 2006 on the calender, and then click on “Cotopaxi Jewish Settlement I” and “Cotopaxi Jewish Settlement II.” Jeanne Abrams, director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, talks with Dan Meyers about how this unlikely Jewish settlement fits into American history and how it affected Denver’s development. Dan Meyers speaks with Miles Saltiel, a relative of a controversial Colorado mine owner who brought a group of Russian Jews to Cotopaxi in the late 1800s. Saltiel has written an article in the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Notes that sets out to clear the name of his relative who has long been accused of exploiting the immigrants.