24 EXPLORATIONS FROM A. D. 1800 TO A. D. 1832, 
Thomas Say, Mr. Jessup, Mr. T. R. Peale, and Mr. Samuel Seymour. They were provided 
with chronometers, sextants, telescope for observing occultations and eclipses, and with com- 
passes. They descended the Ohio river to its mouth, ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of 
the Missouri, and up this river to Old Council Bluff, which was the end of their travels that 
season, the main body wintering there at Engineer Cantonment. 
On their way up the Missouri Mr. Say, with a party consisting of Messrs. Jessup, Peale, 
Seymour, Cadet Swift, Mr. J. Dougherty, and five men, had been detached at Fort Osage to 
explore the country along the Kansas, and between that river and the Platte, and then to de- 
scend the last named stream to its mouth. "They ascended the Kansas to the mouth of the Blue 
river, but were met by a war party of Pawnees, who stole all their horses and baggage, and 
forced them to return to the Missouri, which they reached at Cow island, and followed to the 
. mouth of Wolf river, where they rejoined the command. 
Major Long returned to the seat of general government during the wins, and was accom- 
panied the next spring by Captain John R. Bell, United States army, who took the place of 
Major Biddle, and by Dr. E. James, as botanist and geologist, in the place of Dr. Baldwin and 
Mr. Jessup, the former having died while ascending the Missouri river. Lieutenant Graham 
returned from Engineer Cantonment with the steamboat. 
On the 6th of June, 1820, Major Long left Engineer Cantonment, and proceeding nearly 
west reached the Platte river, up which he travelled to the mouth of Loup Fork, and thence 
continued along the north side of this fork to the Grand Pawnee village. Here crossing the 
river he took a course nearly south to the Platte, striking it about forty miles below where Fort 
Kearny now stands. The party then followed the north side of the Platte as far as the forks; 
crossed both forks and travelled up the right bank of the South Fork to the place where it 
escapes from the Rocky mountains. They then examined the mountains from the South Fork 
of the Platte to the Arkansas. 
Dr. James, with two men, ascended and examined the Grand Peak described by Major Pike, 
and determined the rock to be of the primitive formation. In the narrative this is called 
James’ Peak. By triangulation Lieutenant Swift found it 8,500 feet above his place of obser- 
vation, which was estimated at 3,000 feet above the sea. Captain Frémont, in his report and 
map of explorations in 1843 and 1844, calls it Pike’s Peak, probably because it was so called by 
the white people in the country at the time of his exploration, and this is the name which it 
now bears. To Mr. James, it would seem, should belong the honor of giving his name to this 
noted peak, as he was the first explorer to reach its summit. Major Long in his notes says, 
‘from the information received from hunters and trappers it was believed that no one, either 
civilized or savage, had ever ascended it before," and adds, that ‘‘ Dr. James having accomplished 
this difficult and arduous task, I have thought proper to call the peak after his name.’’ 
The elevation of Lieutenant Swift’s point of observation must have been, according to Captain 
Frémont’s barometric determinations, about 6,000 feet above the sea. This would make the 
elevation of Pike’s Peak about 14,500 feet—about 1,000 feet higher than Frémont’s Peak, in 
the Wind River mountains. A high peak, which gave Major Long’s party the first glimpse of 
the Rocky mountains, has since been known as Long’s Peak. It stands just west of St. Vrain’s 
Fort, from which it is distant about forty miles; and although the party did not approach it 
nearer than this, Major Long considers it much higher than Pike’s Peak. 
Major Long’s party then proceeded south to the Arkansas, which they followed up to the 
gorge, where it comes out of the mountains. In this neighborhood are some mineral springs, 
