Idaho is a virtual sea of mountains. While there is no doubt that Native Americans rambled across the state’s mountain summits and that explorers, trappers, miners, ranchers, surveyors and locals were climbing Idaho’s mountains from the time Lewis and Clark first passed through the state, there are few recorded accounts of these early ascents. When I wrote Idaho: A Climbing … Continue reading
On February 26th, 1926, the Sunday Idaho Statesman published the following report by E.S. Crawford describing the origin of the name Appendicitis Mountain, now Appendicitis Hill. Bannon’s extensive surveying contributions to Idaho Surveying are discussed on Pages 14 and 15 of the book. Appendicitis Case – Responsible for Mountain’s Name Answering a query of The Statesman several weeks ago as … Continue reading
According to A History of the Salmon National Forest, by 1916 there were two lookouts in the Salmon National Forest, at Blue Nose and Salmon City Peak (later given the name “Baldy“). It was assumed that most of the forest could be seen from these two points. Cathedral Rock, in the Bighorn Crags, was also used at times to see … Continue reading
This August 19, 1922 article from the Idaho Statesman called “Castle Rock” what we now know today as “Stack Rock.” Back to Stack Rock … Continue reading
This article from the Idaho Statesman was published on August 1, 1926. In 2018, we know that there are no active glaciers in Idaho. Pettit Lake is the only landmark mentioned in the article, so it is safe to assume that the glacier was located west of the lake. Based on the distance and size measurements set forth in the … Continue reading
In the early 1920s, Hyndman Peak was considered Idaho’s highest summit. After an article (not yet located) in the Idaho Statesman declared Hyndman the highest, a protest was sent to the Statesman and subsequently published by the paper. The protest, set out below, declared Patterson Peak in the White Clouds as the highest Idaho summit and claimed it was 13,000 feet high. … Continue reading