Cooter McGee

Cooter McGee is an American prospector in the late 19th century.

In Martian Dreams, McGee was transported to Mars in the accidental launch of Percival Lowell's space bullet at its exhibition at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Stranded on the red planet, the earthlings soon discovered the necessity of keeping themselves oxygenated in the thin atmosphere, and demand for the oxygen-bearing mineral, oxium, became quite high after its discovery.

McGee was the primary supplier of oxium to the stranded populace, providing it to the trading post at Arsia Mons run by  Martha "Clamity Jane" Burke and  William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.



McGee's oxium-prospecting drew the attention of Raxachk, a power hungry Martian inhabiting the body of the Russian mystic, Rasputin. Raxachk desired a planetary monopoly over the precious mineral, and sent warning to McGee, ordering the delivery of a map directing him to the McGee's major oxium cache, and threatening dire consequences if he refused. McGee came at Coprates Chasma for a rendezvous with Rasputin and his followers from Argyre, but refused to hand over the map. Outnumbered, the prospector was boxed into a cavern (21 S, 63 W) and left for dead.

In Martian Dreams, the Avatar received word from Burke and Cody that McGee was missing, and investigated the matter, at their request. The hero's exploratory team eventually located Cooter and rescued him from a from a group of hostile ammonoids. Grateful, McGee offered the Avatar his map as a reward, and revealed to the hero its location near the marker for Coprates Chasma (17 S, 80 W) left by explorers Yellin,  Sherman and  Duprey.