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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 09:54am PT
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^^^ Thanks for the tip. I just emailed the curator of that collection to go with the one I sent to the AAC library this morning. We'll see if she can come up with an answer.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 12:28pm PT
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Okay, it's starting to seem that Cook did the naming in 1906.
I've just received an email from Eric at the AAC Library saying that Johnson and Wake are named in a photo in a 1908 version of To The Top of The Continent.
(Which would make the AAC's own publication linked to near the top of this thread incorrect on this particular piece of esoteria.)
I've asked Eric to forward a photo or scan of the photo in question, and he said he'd dig further into the question of "Who are those guys?"
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 01:33pm PT
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This just in, from Eric Rueth at the ACC Library, in the first edition (1908) of To the Top of the Continent:
Looks to me like the same photo as above, but with the peaks named. [Actually, the peaks are named in that other pic. Why didn't I see the significance of that? Frightening.]
Assuming this is a pre-1910 printing of the book, it settles the "who did the naming" question for me: Fred Cook.
Now we just need to figure out who are those guys?
[Eric Reuth just confirmed that the two copies of the book he examined were both published prior to 1910, so Belmore Browne is definitely out of the picture as a namer.]
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 02:08pm PT
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And thanks to a tip from Laura Kissel, the Polar Curator at Ohio State University (and David Roberts, who pointed me there), I have a strong suspicion that Mount Bradley is named for John R. Bradley, who was such a major backer of Cook's 1907-1908 polar expedition that Cook sailed north in a schooner named John R. Bradley.
You can see a picture of the schooner here, on the right.
And if you're curious about Mr. Bradley, read the last paragraph here.
Turns out he was a rich casino operator from Florida.
Seems likely he also helped finance Cook's 1906 Alaska expedition.
OSU has the original of the photo we've been using; Ms. Kissel just sent me a low res scan.
So, 90 years after that photo was taken, I would meet Donini in Patagonia and he would enlist me to participate in a first ascent up the side of a peak in Alaska named for a Florida casino operator.
Can the world get more bizarre?
I can't wait to learn who Dickey, Wake, Johnson and Church are named for...
Ms. Kissel has promised to look into it.
Mount Grosvenor is likely named for this guy, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, first full-time editor of National Geographic Magazine.
(Which is not yet confirmed, but seems probable.)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 23, 2016 - 02:12pm PT
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My money's on Wake being the same as the island.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 03:14pm PT
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William A. Dickey. I'd guess he and Cook had some association.
Here's the article "Explorations in Alaska" in The New York Sun 1/24/1897, pp. 4, column 3.
(Looks like Sherwonit got the title slightly wrong, which is no big deal.)
And here's a screenshot of the section pertinent to the naming of McKinley...
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 23, 2016 - 03:18pm PT
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And it really did used to be spelled "Sushitna".
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 03:22pm PT
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^^^ It's Alaska, Mark. Anything is possible.
So along the western rampart of the Ruth we've got Barrill known (Ed Barill, Cook's companion); Dickey, Bradley, and Grosvenor probably identified; and Wake, Johnson, and Church still unknown.
We're making progress.
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 23, 2016 - 04:05pm PT
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In the same PDF above, bottom right corner of page 7 of 33, photo caption:
"Cook named (l-r): Mount Church (8233'), Mount Grosvenor (8450), and Mount Johnson (8460), names evidently not now recognized by the USGS"
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 05:51pm PT
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Posting for David Roberts, with his permission. He just chimed in via email:
"Do you have or know of Donald Orth's Dictionary of Alaska Place Names (1967, USGS)? It's a stupendous piece of scholarship. I've relied on it for all kinds of arcana, e. g., the name of Mt. Mausolus in the Revelations.
Dickey of course was the besotted Republican gold miner who named McKinley. But the naming of Mt. Dickey, according to Orth, is as follows: "Named in 1914 by Dora Keen [Handy] . . . ."
Handy as you know made the first ascent of East Blackburn with her husband, George Handy, in 1912. They thought it was the true summit, and claimed the first ascent of Blackburn. What she might have been doing anywhere near the Ruth Gorge, I have no idea. But in my experience, Orth is seldom wrong.
As for Grosvenor--I seriously wonder if Cook invoked the Nat Geo editor. NG was a principal sponsor of Robert Peary, Cook's nemesis. Unless he was trying preemptively to brownnose the Yellow Magazine, why would Cook have tipped his cap to Grosvenor?
My guess is that the Bradley lead gives the clue to the other names. Find the other benefactors of Cook, and you might well find the undeserving blokes who got some of our continent's most stunning peaks named after them.
--David"
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 06:02pm PT
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^^^^ Interesting observation from Orth, David, that certainly adds to the confusion, but doesn't it seem unlikely that Cook would name the row of peaks just below Dickey and the peak above it but decide not to name Dickey itself?
(The photo published in 1908 that we've discussed above leaves little doubt that Cook did the naming in the Gorge below Dickey.)
As you well know, Dickey is a hard feature to ignore. I can't imagine Cook looking at it and then deciding, "Well, Ed, I'll name the next one after you, but let's just skip this big square looking thing. It's not worth a name, and it's certainly not worth yours."
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 06:05pm PT
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As for Grosvenor, that is odd, but his is also an odd name.
I'll need some convincing to think it's not named for him.
Maybe it was a peace offering? Or a formidable piece of geographical brown nosing, as you suggest.
Cook wouldn't be the last climber in history to attempt to brown nose Old Yeller.
Although he might have been the first. :-)
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 23, 2016 - 06:11pm PT
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Greg I don't have it in front of me but look in Fred Beckey's "Mount McKinley: Icy Crown of North America" and I know he has a bunch of early history including stuff about Dickey.
Also, if you find a copy of Washburn's "the Dishonorable Dr. Cook" that would likely have some relevant history of the Gorge exploration including stuff directly from Cook's diaries. That PDF I linked to above has a lot of good nuggets also.
I think I've heard of that Dora Handy. But I'd agree that it doesn't make sense that Cook would name all of the peaks in the gorge except the most massive one there. And I definitely sense that Wake and Johnson and Church must also be some sort of financiers for Cook.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 06:32pm PT
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I just perused your PDF, Mark, and that certainly provides more evidence in support of the contention that Cook did the naming.
Of which I'm now convinced.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2016 - 09:38pm PT
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This from Jack Tackle, via email, posted with his permission:
"So, read the thread.. reminds me that oral history is an important victim of the past. What I mean by that is this... I know both Brad and H Adams Carter told me the history behind the names in the Ruth-- and maybe it's because of the martini I just made, but more likely the f*#king jet lag I am dealing with- but I know both of them told me the history behind the names and I think Brad in particular knew the Johnson and Wake and Church background. For sure we can correlate Grosvenor..
So, I still hold out that Cook named Johnson but for whom it remains unclear to me right now...
More later- cheers, Jack"
NOTE: I agree with Jack. I've seen compelling evidence that Cook named Johnson. What we're missing is for whom he did it.
Bottoms up, buddy.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 07:54am PT
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if you find a copy of Washburn's "the Dishonorable Dr. Cook" that would likely have some relevant history of the Gorge exploration including stuff directly from Cook's diaries. Hot tip, Mark.
Anybody here have a copy and willing to scout it for Ruth Gorge naming?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 24, 2016 - 08:56am PT
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How did those guys get to the Gorge? Pretty sure Cliff didn't take 'em in.
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