PIKE 



1672 



PIKE'S PEAK 



important species is tin- common, or /. 

 pike, found abundantly in the Great Lakes 

 and in smaller lakes in Canada and the I'pper 

 ippi Valley. It may attain a length of 

 four feet, though la'rgi-r and hmner specimens 

 have been caught which weigh forty pounds; 

 in color it is bluish or greenish-gray, with ir- 

 regular rows of whitish or yellowish spots. This 

 fi-h is known also as [tick* r< I in the I'nited 

 though that name is more correctly ap- 

 plied to a small sneeies of pike. The pikr 

 ptrrh. or wall-eyed pike, i> a ineinbcr of the 

 perch family. See PKKCH ; PICKEHKL. 



PIKE, ZKBI I.ON MONTGOMERY (1779-1813), an 

 American soldier and explorer, for whom the 

 be-t-known mountain peak in the United States 

 was named. He was the son of an army officer, 

 and was born at Lambert on. N. ,1. When but 

 fifteen years of 

 age he enter- -d 

 In- father'- n m- 

 ment as a cadet. 

 and five years 

 later was made 

 first lieutenant. 

 The first of the 

 exploring expedi- 

 tions for which 

 he is famous was 

 begun in August. 

 1805; it had aa its 

 object the discov- 

 ery of the head- 

 wat rrs of the Mississippi River. After pene- 

 trating to ("ass Lake (Upper Red Cedar), he 

 turned back to Saint Louis, and in July, 1806, 

 -< t out to explore another portion of the Louisi- 

 ana Purchase territory. He passed along the 

 Missouri and Osage rivers into what is now 

 Kansas, and perhaps north into Nebraska; then 

 turning south he marched to the Arkansas 

 River. Following this stream through the 

 Royal (Jorge to the present site of Pueblo, 

 Colo., he sighted on November 23 the peak 

 which later was named for him. In his search 

 for tlu Red River. Pike, without knowing it, 

 :ed Spanish territory and was there de- 

 tained for a time. 



He was promoted through various ranks to 

 that of colonel (1812), and took an active part 

 in the early stages of the War of 1812. In the 

 attack on York. Canada, he was killed by a 

 fragment of rock -hattrn-d by a Rritish shell. 



Pike publi-hed a book dealing with hi- ex- 

 plorations, bearing the extended title of An 

 Account of an KJ'IH ilitiun to the Sources of tin 



ZEBULON PIKE 



!>[>! and Throuyh tlu \\'it<rn I'arts o] 

 Louisiana, and a Tour Through the Interior 

 Part* of \< ic Spain. It was not well written, 

 but was an authentic report of a new land and 

 was tran.-lated into Kuropean langi, 



See PIKE'S PEAK; for othrr \i>l<>ring expedi- 

 tions in tin- West, see LKWIS ANI> CI.AKK Kxi'Kiu- 



TIuN : FUKMOXT. JOHN C. 



PIKE'S PEAK, the best known, though not 

 the highest, of the Rocky Mountains peak.- in 

 Colorado. A summit of the Rampart range, 



I 'IKE'S PEAK RAILWAY 



it lifts its snow-capped peak 14,108 feet above 

 sea level, and is covered with pine forests to a 

 height of 11,700 feet. It was discovered in 

 November, 1806, by Lieutenant Zebulon Mont- 

 gomery Pike, U. S. A., who climbed part wax- 

 up but lost his way and had to turn back. He 

 declared the peak could not be reached, but the 

 ascent was made by members of Major Long's 



