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Naming the Rocky Mountains 
By W. H. Holmes of the Smithsonian Institute * 
BEGAN my ex- 
ploring career 
with the old Ge- 
ological Survey 
of the Terri- 
tories in 1872. 
This was the first 
systematic explor- 
ation of the Yellow- 
stone country. Up to 
1869 this region was 
scarcely known at all, 
altho it contained some 
of the greatest wonders in 
the world. It was an ex- 
tremely wild country, with 
no trails save those made by 
bear, elk, deer, and a multi- 
tude of small game. The region 
was so utterly wild that we had 
in a large measure to find names 
for the rivers, lakes, and mountain-peaks. It 
is interesting now to go back over that time 
and recall the incidents leading to the use of 
many of the names given. 
It was a melancholy duty of the party in 
1872 to follow the body of Lady Blackmore, 
wife of the great traveler, Sir William 
Blackmore, who accompanied us that year, 
to a humble grave at the base of the great 
range of mountains known as the Gallatin 
Range. Afterward, eight days were spent in 
ascending one of the snow-capped peaks, that 
it might be appropriately dedicated as 
Blackmore Peak. The name Mount Evarts 
was attached to a massive mountain mass 
that lies just across Gardiner’s River from 
Mammoth Hot Springs because it was the 
site of the rescue of the nearly starved and 
quite crazed explorer of that name, who wa» 
lost in the wilds of the upper Yellowstone 
country for 37 days three years before. 
Later in the days of exploration it gave me 
especial pleasure to be able to attach to the 
charming valley containing the mud geyser 
and other wonders of the Park, the name of 
Hayden. 
I had a curious little bear experience in 
the Gallatin Range when I was with the first. 
Hayden expedition. We started out to 
climb one of the mountains, one party going 
in one direction, and the other with the out- 
fit in another direction. As we went along 
we saw much small game and frequently 
tracks of mountain lion, bear, deer, and elk. 
I was forging along alone on my tired little 
pony, when suddenly I saw a large black 
object just ahead. I thought at first it was 
a horse, but finally made it out to be a large 
black bear rooting in the snow. I was armed 
with a pistol only, and, deciding that dis- 
cretion was the better part of valor, beat 
a hasty and perhaps undignified retreat. 
Securing reenforcements later, I returned to 
seek his bearship, but he had disappeared. 
Then I found by examination of his tracks 
in the snow that at the very moment I had 
started in one direction the bear had started 
in the opposite direction, and with such 
remarkable impetuosity as to clear 12 feet at 
a jump. My chances of escape would have 
been very small if he had decided to come 
my way. We followed his trail and came 
upon him in a deep ravine, where he was 
finally captured. 
In 1874 we were in Colorado, and I recall 
with pride the fact that within three months 
I climbed 11 peaks, each over 14,000 feet in 
height. These were Gray ’s,Torrey ’s, Long’s, 
Pike’s, and Grizzly peaks, Mts. Evans, Pow- 
ell, Culebra, Sierra Blanco (14,440 feet high, 
the highest in the Rockies), Lincoln, Laplata 
Peak, and Snow Mass Mountain. Many 
other less important peaks were climbed, 
among which was the mountain of the Holy 
Cross. 
The ascent of this peak was a very inter- 
esting and exciting experience. The moun- 
tain is so called from the fact that it has on 
one of its faces great cross crevices — one ver- 
tical, and the other crossing it horizontally 
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