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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 09:07am PT
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^^^ They walked.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 24, 2016 - 09:40am PT
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All the way up the Ruth? That's a hike and a half!
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Dolomite
climber
Anchorage
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Feb 24, 2016 - 09:40am PT
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Yeah, I own The Dishonorable Dr. Cook and checked that it first thing. No answers. I have a call in to the UA Library reference desk.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 10:00am PT
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I own The Dishonorable Dr. Cook and checked that it first thing. No answers. Thanks for checking, Dolomite.
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David Roberts
Mountain climber
Watertown, MA
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Feb 24, 2016 - 10:24am PT
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In Brad's and Peter Cherici's THE DISHONORABLE DR. COOK, there's considerably more detail about Bradley (p. 56). John R. Bradley owned a gambling house in Palm Beach that "was notorious for allowing women at the gaming tables." He started out as a faro dealer in New Orleans, always "staying one step ahead of the law," and got rich enough to "indulge his passion for big-game hunting." Cook met Bradley at the Arctic Club in 1905 and "suggested they hunt together for walrus and polar bear in the Arctic." Bradley later voted for Greenland.
Cook was deeply in debt after the 1906 expedition, and Bradley bailed him out with a check for $10,000. Nothing ever came of the hunt.
This makes it sound as though Bradley was a one-shot savior, rather than a member of a coterie of Cook backers. So less likely that Church, Wake, and Johnson could be found among some gang of benefactors?
Perhaps Cherici knows more? Contact him through Mountaineers Books?
I agree with Greg and Mark that it seems unlikely Cook skipped over Dickey in his naming binge. The same book reproduces Barrill's sketch map of the trip. Along the upper Ruth Gorge, on the west side, Barrill wrote (p. 66), "Eight Peaks drawn by me in my diary."
Jack's recollection that Brad or Ad Carter told him who the guys were is fascinating. Dredge it up, Jack!
Brad and Ad never told me--but I never thought to ask. Why in hell didn't I?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 10:36am PT
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David! Welcome! Great to have you aboard.
Mr. Bradley sounds like quite the story. Fat chance the USGS is ever going to officially append the name of a notorious faro dealer to the mountain.
If Cook was as crafty as I suspect, he may have been angling for Bradley's future support by naming a mountain in his "honor."
This makes it sound as though Bradley was a one-shot savior, rather than a member of a coterie of Cook backers. So less likely that Church, Wake, and Johnson could be found among some gang of benefactors?
I agree. If Cook finished his '06 expedition deep in hock, it seems less likely he already had a slew of deep-pocketed supporters.
Although perhaps he was casting a wide net of hopefuls? Bradley just happened to be the fish he landed...
Does The Dishonorable Doctor list sources for its John R. Bradley data?
And does anybody have contact info for Peter C?
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Dolomite
climber
Anchorage
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Feb 24, 2016 - 10:49am PT
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Greg, the bibliography of The Dishonorable Dr. Cook is extensive and annotated. There is also a "Research Sources" at the end that directs one to the original Cook 1906 Diary at the Library of Congress. Did you try to contact anyone at the Dr Cook Society? My sense that it's kind of like a cult, but they could be useful.
David Stevenson
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David Roberts
Mountain climber
Watertown, MA
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Feb 24, 2016 - 10:58am PT
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Aha! In the 1956 AAJ, Brad's article covers the first ascent of Mount Dickey, which he made on April 9, 1955, with David Fisher. Brad says that the objective of his team, besides mapping and exploring the Ruth Gorge, was "the first ascent of 'Peak 9,550' at the head of the Great Gorge." Obviously he didn't yet know about, or rejected, Cook's unofficial names of the peaks on the west side.
Then, on April 9, Brad writes, "Fisher and I finally packed our survey gear to the top of 'Peak 9,550' which we called Mt. Dickey in honor of William A. Dickey, who named Mt. McKinley . . . ."
So Orth is wrong. In all likelihood, Cook DID name Mt. Dickey by some other name that has not come down to us.
Greg--worth going back to the Byrd Polar Center at OSU? Do they have Cook's diary? Wonder where Barrill's diary is? Barrill's sketch map, according to Brad and Cherici, was published in the Globe and Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 15, 1909.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 11:05am PT
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^^^ David, that is an excellent find. So we've pinned the right guy, but on the wrong trip.
Curious that Cook's name didn't stick for that mountain, but did for the others... It also wouldn't greatly surprise me if Brad named the peak for the same guy as Cook... I never met Mr. Washburn, but would that gesture be entirely out of character? It would certainly make a point that Brad spent a lot of time and energy making in more formal venues.
Barrill's sketch map, according to Brad and Cherici, was published in the Globe and Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 15, 1909.
I'll see if I can find it in the LoC database.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 11:11am PT
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Damn... the Library of Congress "Chronicling America" archive isn't loading. I'll try later.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 12:14pm PT
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People should start naming faro-related routes on Mount Bradley:
"Call the turn, Mr. Bradley"
"Burn the soda"
"Coffin driver"
"Soda to hock"
"Copper the bet"
"A gaffed box"
"Bucking the tiger"
There's a town over in the Yukon named for the game.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Feb 24, 2016 - 12:55pm PT
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I wonder if there were any pre-existing native names for the Ruth Gorge peaks. Similar to Denali. SHI T, you can see em from the Talkeetna overlook... Maybe an old native musher stopped along the way and named all the peaks he could see in the distance and claimed them as tribal property?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2016 - 01:41pm PT
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^^^ I believe The Mooses Tooth is an Anglicization of the native name... I don't know whether the others merited native names.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2016 - 10:12am PT
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My condolences to everyone in our community affected by the loss of Scott Cosgrove. One of the great ones. Sounds like he has hoed a rough row since his accident.
This just in via email from Eric at the AAC library:
"I found a few details in Fred Becky's Mount McKinley: Icy Crown of North America that may be of some help. There's a paragraph that goes over the major contributors to the expedition.
"Bolstered with favor and reputation, Cook now had little problem obtaining the necessary financing, a publication agreement, and new participants for his second sojourn to Alaska. Backed by both the Explorers Club and the American Geographic Society, he received $1,000 from Harper's and $5,000 from Henry W. Disston (grandson of wealthy Henry A. Disston, the Philadelphia saw manufacturer, who was to join Cook in the autumn for big-game hunting."
(that's on page 86, then on page 88 it confirms that Disston is the sportsman from back east that couldn't make it out to hunt as alluded to by Brian In SLC.)
So the eastern sportsman lead isn't a Johnson but there could possibly be a Johnson, or a Wake, or a Church with a influential role in one of the sponsoring organizations?
I've also attached a scan of the foldout map at the end of Belmore Browne's The Conquest of McKinley. One is the full map and the other is zoomed in on the Ruth Glacier area. It appears Browne or someone else originally named Bears Tooth, "Snowbonnet," thank goodness they changed it. Not sure if it's helpful but it's interesting."
*** Looks to me like it's both, Eric. Thanks. I'll unpack the images and post them.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2016 - 10:16am PT
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Snowbonnet is bad, but to my taste, Mount Hubbard is worse.
Three cheers for The Mooses Tooth!
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 25, 2016 - 10:44am PT
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Also interesting that what today is called simply "Pk. 11,300" is called "Mt.Kudlich" on Browne's map. That name Kudlich shows up on google earth also- someone put it there but I can't recall who- maybe Steve Gruhn?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2016 - 11:14am PT
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I love the white on the map... actual, bona fide, unexplored territory. Perhaps even unseen
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Feb 25, 2016 - 11:57am PT
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And in the subject of Steve Gruhn, who I should have thought to ask earlier- Steve is an encyclopedia of knowledge- he will chime in later but says cook named them all after sponsors who were Explorers Club members, and that Grosvenor was indeed the Nat Geo President.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2016 - 12:12pm PT
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I just received another email from Laura Kissel at Ohio State University...
And it sounds like we're going to have answers for every mountain EXCEPT Johnson...
From Ms. Kissel:
"Ok, I was able to figure out Bradley, Church and Dickey. No luck with Johnson. And yes, Grosvenor is for the man of National Geographic fame as you suspected.
Cook met Bradley in 1905, so I’m certain that is the correct Bradley.
Dickey is for William Dickey, the prospector who named Mt. McKinley for President McKinley.
Church is for Alfred Church, who was on the Peary Relief Expedition in 1898 (as was Cook).
The only one that I know for sure sponsored Cook at any time was Bradley, and I’m sure that his naming of the peak was a tactical move on Dr. Cook’s part.
I can’t figure out who Johnson is. I haven’t yet given up, though. So if I can figure that one out, I’ll let you know!
Laura"
I've asked her for source material. I'm curious to learn whether Brad "renamed" Dickey for the same guy Cook did.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2016 - 12:15pm PT
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Mark, I'm curious to learn whether or not Gruhn confirms the info in from the OSU archive... and also if he has a lead on Mr. Johnson.
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