Identification of the Great Peaks of the Southern Sierra 251 



but is an exact description of Evolution Creek, and since his de- 

 scription of the mountain itself is so totally different from the true 

 peak, and finally since Mr. Hoffmann himself did not approach 

 within twelve miles of the mountain, I think there can be no doubt 

 that Mr. Muir was in error in his identification of Mount Hum- 

 phreys. 



Of all the peaks of the San Joaquin-Kings River watershed, 

 Mount Goddard is the most prominent. This is not because of its 

 height, which is 13,555 ^^^t, but on account of its position five miles 

 west of the Main Crest on the divide between the two river basins. 

 The peak was named by the Brewer party in 1864, after George H. 

 Goddard, a civil engineer of Fresno County.* Members of the party 

 attempted the ascent at that time, but were not able to approach the 

 mountain near enough to complete it. The first ascent was made in 

 1879 by Lil. A. Winchell, of Fresno, and his original record was 

 still on the summit in 1898. Probably no mountain in the southern 

 Sierra commands such an extensive view as does Mount Goddard, 

 every peak in the range being clearly visible from Mount Conness 

 to Mount Whitney. 



The magnificent group of the Palisades was first seen and named 

 by Professor Brewer's party in 1864. They were attempting to find 

 a way across the Monarch Divide at the time, and probably obtained 

 their first sight of these peaks from a point near Goat Mountain.! 

 Captain George M. Wheeler fixed accurately the position of the 

 highest point in 1878, and called it the Northwest Palisade.:]: Since 

 that time this great peak, the culminating point of the Kings River 

 watershed, has been known as the North Palisade, and is so desig- 

 nated on the Mount Goddard Quadrangle of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. Wheeler gives its position as N. Lat. 37° 5' 26.^9, W. Lon. 

 118° 30' 40", and its height as 14,275 feet. The U. S. Geological 

 Survey places its height at 14,254 feet. The first ascent was made 

 by James S. Hutchinson, James K. Moffitt, and J. N. Le Conte in 

 i903.§ Wheeler also gave the name Southeast Palisade to the great 

 peak generally called Split Mountain, giving its co-ordinates as N. 

 Lat. 37° 00' 57."3, W. Lon. 118° 25' 09."6. The Geological Survey 



*Britton and Rey's Map of the State of California. i857- By George H, Goddard. 

 tGeological Survey of California. Geology, vol, I, page 393. 



JGeographical Surveys West of the looth Meridian. Tables of Geographic Positions, 

 etc., page 19. 



§"Ascent of the North Palisades." By J. N. Le Conte. Sierra Club BuLLEnN, vol, V, 

 No, I, Jan. 1904, page I. 



