The Yellowstone National Park Part 26

APPENDIX A.

II.

MOUNTAIN RANGES, PEAKS, b.u.t.tES, RIDGES, HILLS.

[The numbers in parentheses denote elevations. These are taken from the latest map by the United States Geological Survey, and are the same as that of the one hundred foot contour nearest the summit.

The true elevation of the ultimate peak is in each case slightly greater, lying somewhere between the figure given and an alt.i.tude one hundred feet higher.]

_Abiathar Peak_ (10,800)--C: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--For Charles _Abiathar_ White, Paleontologist, U. S. Geological Survey.

_Absaroka Range_, A-X: 12-16--1885--U. S. G. S.--This range of mountains has had an unfortunate christening history. It was first known as the Yellowstone Range, from its close relation to the Yellowstone River, of which it is the source. The original name dates from as far back as 1863, and was adopted by the first explorers of the Park country. It was officially recognized in 1871, by both the Corps of Engineers and the United States Geological Survey. When the Park was created this range became its real eastern boundary, and many of its peaks were named for those who had borne prominent parts in its history. The name had thus an added claim to perpetuity. It pa.s.sed into general use, and appears in all the writings of the United States Geological Survey down to 1883.

In 1873, Captain W. A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, led an expedition through these mountains--the first that ever crossed them.

He gave them a new name, "Sierra Shoshone." Except for the fact that he was violating the rule of priority, his action in giving this name, as well as his judgment in its selection, were of unquestionable propriety. It was a tribe of the Shoshonean family who alone dwelt in the Park, or among these mountains, and it was entirely fitting to commemorate this fact in a distinct and permanent manner. The name pa.s.sed rapidly into public use, and by 1880 had practically supplanted the original name.

For reasons that can hardly be made to appear satisfactory, the United States Geological Survey, in 1883, or soon after, rejected both these names and adopted in their place Absaroka, "the Indian name of the Crow nation" (Hague). Of course this action can have no pretense of justification from the standpoint of the "rigid law of priority."

There are very few instances in American geography of a similar disregard for the rights of previous explorers. Unfortunately, not even the argument of appropriateness can be urged in its defense.

These mountains, except that portion north of the Park, were never properly Crow territory, and the name is thus distinctly an importation. Its future use is now unhappily a.s.sured, on account of its formal adoption (for reasons wholly inadequate, it is true,) by the United States Board on Geographical Names. Against the influence of the government, with its extensive series of publications, even though committed to the perpetuation of an error, it is idle to contend; but it is greatly to be deplored that a feature of the Park scenery of such commanding prominence should not bear a name at least remotely suggestive of some natural or historical a.s.sociation.

_Amethyst Mountain_ (9,423)--F: 11--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Antler Peak_ (10,200)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Atkins Peak_ (10,900)--N: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John D. C.

Atkins, Indian Commissioner, 1885-1888.

_Avalanche Peak_ (10,500)--L: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bannock Peak_ (10,400)--D: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--From the name of a tribe of Indians who inhabited the country to the south-west of the Park, and were finally settled on a reservation in southern Idaho.

What is known as the Great Bannock Trail, pa.s.sed along the valley of Indian Creek, some distance south of this mountain. The spelling here given is that which custom seems finally to have settled upon; but Bannack would more nearly express the original p.r.o.nunciation. The various spellings, some sixteen in number, come from the original _Panai'hti_, or _Bannai'hti_, meaning southern people.

_Barlow Peak_ (9,500)--Q: 10--1895--U. S. G. S.--For Captain (now Colonel) J. W. Barlow, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., leader of the military expedition which entered the Park region in 1871. His name was first applied to the upper course of the Snake River, but was recently transferred to a neighboring mountain peak.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLONEL J. W. BARLOW.]

_Baronett Peak_ (10,300)--C: 13--1878--U. S. G. S.--For C. J.

Baronett, "Yellowstone Jack," a famous scout and guide, closely connected with the history of the National Park, and builder of the first bridge across the Yellowstone River.

Baronett's career was adventurous beyond the average man of his cla.s.s.

He was born in Glencoe, Scotland, in 1829. His father was in the British naval service, and he early began to follow the sea. In his mult.i.tudinous wanderings we find him on the coast of Mexico during the Mexican War; on the Chinese coast in 1850, where he deserted his s.h.i.+p and fled to San Francisco; in 1852, in Australia after gold; the next year in Africa, still on a gold hunt; then in Australia again and in San Francisco; next in the Arctic seas as second mate on a whaling vessel; back in California in 1855; courier for Albert Sidney Johnston in the Mormon War; later in Colorado and California searching for gold; scout in the Confederate service until 1863; then in Mexico with the French under Maximilian, who made him a captain; back in California in 1864, and in Montana in September of the same year, where he at once set out on a prospecting trip which took him entirely through the region of the Yellowstone Park; later in the service of Gen. Custer as scout in the Indian territory; then in Mexico and finally back in Montana in 1870; finder of the lost Everts; builder of his celebrated bridge in 1871; in the Black Hills in 1875, where he slew a local editor who had unjustly reflected upon him in his paper; scout in the Sioux, Nez Perce, and Bannock Wars, 1876-8; Indian trader for many years; engaged in innumerable prospecting ventures; and still, at the age of sixty-six, searching with his old time ardor for the elusive yellow metal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: C. J. BARONETT.]

_Big Game Ridge_--Q-T: 9-11--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Birch Mils_ (7,300)--R: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bison Peak_ (8,800)--D: 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bobcat Ridge_ (9,500)--T: 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Bunsen Peak_ (9,100)--D: 6--1872--U. S. G. S.--For the eminent chemist and physicist, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen; inventor of the Bunsen electric cell and of the Bunsen Gas Burner; co-discoverer with Kirchoff of the principle of Spectrum a.n.a.lysis; and the first thorough investigator of the phenomena of geyser action. (See Chapter III, Part II.)

_Cathedral Peak_ (10,600)--J: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Chittenden, Mt._ (10,100)--K: 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--"Of the prominent peaks of this [the Absaroka] range may be mentioned Mount Chittenden, named for Mr. George B. Chittenden, whose name has long been identified with this survey."--Gannett.[CA]

[CA] Page 482, Twelfth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.

_Cinnabar Mountain_ (7,000)--A: 5--Named prior to 1870.--"So named from the color of its rocks, which have been mistaken for Cinnabar, although the red color is due to iron."--Hayden. The Devil's Slide (also named before 1870) is on this mountain.

_Colter Peak_ (10,500)--O: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John Colter.

(See Part I, Chapter III.)

_Crags, The_ (9,000)--E: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Crescent Hill_ (7,900)--D: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Crow Foot Ridge_ (9,700)--D-E: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Doane, Mt._ (10,500)--M: 13--1870--Washburn Party--For Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, 2d Cavalry, U. S. Army, commander of the military escort to the celebrated Wasburn Expedition of 1870.

Lieutenant Doane was born in Illinois, May 29, 1840, and died in Bozeman, Mont., May 5, 1892. At the age of five he went with his parents, in wake of an ox team, to Oregon. In 1849 his family went to California at the outbreak of the gold excitement. He remained there ten years, in the meanwhile working his way through school. In 1862 he entered the Union service, went east with the California Hundred, and then joined a Ma.s.sachusetts cavalry regiment. He was mustered out in 1865 as a First Lieutenant. He joined the Carpet-baggers and is said to have become mayor of Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army in 1868, and continued in the service until his death, attaining the rank of Captain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTAIN GUSTAVUS C. DOANE.]

Doane's whole career was actuated by a love of adventure. He had at various times planned a voyage to the Polar regions, or an expedition of discovery into Africa. But fate a.s.signed him a middle ground, and he became prominently connected with the discovery of the Upper Yellowstone country. His part in the Expedition of 1870 is second to none. He made the first official report upon the wonders of the Yellowstone, and his fine descriptions have never been surpa.s.sed by any subsequent writer. Although suffering intense physical torture during the greater portion of the trip, it did not extinguish in him the truly poetic ardor with which those strange phenomena seem to have inspired him. Dr. Hayden says of this report: "I venture to state, as my opinion, that for graphic description and thrilling interest it has not been surpa.s.sed by any official report made to our government since the times of Lewis and Clark."[CB]

[CB] Page 8, Fifth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.

Lieutenant Doane and Mr. Langford were the first white men known to have ascended any of the higher peaks of the Absaroka Range. From the summit of the mountain so ascended, Mr. Langford made the first known authentic sketch of Yellowstone Lake. This sketch was used soon after by General Washburn in compiling an official map of that section of country, and he was so much pleased with it that he named the mountain from which it was taken, Mt. Langford. At Mr. Langford's request, he named a neighboring peak, Mt. Doane.

_Dome, The_ (9,900)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Druid Peak_ (9,600)--D: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Dunraven Peak_ (9,700)--F: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--"This I have named Dunraven Peak in honor of the Earl of Dunraven, whose travels and writings have done so much toward making this region known to our cousins across the water."--Gannett.[CC]

[CC] Page 478, Twelfth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.

Dunraven visited the Park in 1874. In 1876, he published his "Great Divide," describing his travels in the West. The irrepressible Colonel Norris named this peak after himself, and coupled it with Mt. Washburn in a characteristic poem. But the United States Geological Survey decided otherwise, and transferred the colonel's name to the north-east corner of the Park. (See "Mt. Norris.")

_Eagle Peak_ (10,800)--O: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Echo Peak_ (9,600)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Electric Peak_ (11,155)--B: 4-5--1872--U. S. G. S.--From the following circ.u.mstance, described by Mr. Henry Gannett, who ascended the mountain with surveying instruments, July 26, 1872:[CD]