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Pikes Peak

• Elevation: 14,110 ft. - one of 54 peaks in Colorado that are over 14,000 ft.
• Named After: Lt. Zebulon Pike
• Once Called: Sun Mountain, The Blue Mountain, Grand Peak, Highest Mountain (on early maps)

First named James Peak by Major Long in 1820 for naturalist Dr. Edwin James who was the first known person to climb it on July 15, 1820.  From 1820 to 1850 it was called both James Peak and Pikes Peak. John C. Fremont named it Pikes Peak in 1843.

In the spring of 1858, Julia Archibald Holmes, 20 years old, started on a journey along with 46 others from Lawrence, Kansas to search for gold in the west.  When they reached Pikes Peak, Mrs. Holmes decided to climb the peak "not only for the scenery but also to prove that a woman could take her place beside a man."

Sources:

• Life in the Altitudes, An Illustrated History of  Colorado Springs
  

Painted By: Kathy Barnes 
Written By: D. Francese