The top of Kings Peak.
CAN you lose
a mountain?
The
Richfield Reaper newspaper highlighted such a supposed mystery in its April 5,
1906 edition and that query cannot be found anywhere else. At the least it
highlights how little was known about Utah’s highest summits in the early 20th
Century.
“Where is
Mount Hodges?” the newspaper asked in a story titled, “The mountain giants of
Utah.” It claimed Utah had seven peaks over 13,000 feet in height and that
Mount Hodges was the kingpin of them all at 13,687 feet.
“This is about
the largest piece of property that has ever been lost, strayed or stolen in a
civilized country, and in comparison would make any of the numerous lost mines
assume diminutive proportions. A mountain reaching nearly three miles vertical
above sea level, unless it has changed its name and is posing under a nom de
plume, ought not to be difficult to find. Mount Hodges, the largest unlocated
peak in Utah, was named many years ago by Clarence King of the geological
survey. While no reward is offered for its apprehension, word of its
whereabouts would doubtless be gladly and thankfully received by the residents
of the state,” the essence of the Richfield, Utah newspaper report stated.
The old
Richfield newspaper story reported that Mount Hodges could not be found on any
map. The writer did not list his source for Mount Hodges even existing. Yet, he
also listed six other Utah peaks that were believed to be over 13,000 feet –
Gilbert, Emmons, Wilson, Lovenia, Tokewanna and Mt. Peale. That’s where the
answer to his puzzle is likely found.
Today, a
Google or map search yields no Mount Hodges and no similarly named peak that
rises over 13,000 feet.
Here’s the
actual height in feet and the ranking among Utah’s tallest summits for the six
mountains he listed: 3. Gilbert, 13,442; 4. Emmons, 13,440; 5. Lovenia, 13,219;
6. Tokewanna, 13, 165; 9. Wilson, 13,049; and 14. Mt. Peale, 12,721.
What’s
missing on that modern and accurate list of tallest summits in Utah is none
other that Utah’s highest, Kings Peak, 13,528 and the runnerup, South Kings
Peak, 13,512.
South Kings Peak.
Could it be
that whatever source the Richfield newspaper was using more than 11 decades ago
did not have the Kings Peak name, but Hodges instead? Kings Peak is actually
named for Clarence King of the U.S. Geological Survey and as the state’s
tallest fits this puzzle nicely.
-Notwithstanding
the lack of facts in 1906 for those mountains, a much older story in the
Deseret News story of Aug. 26, 1874 was more on the mark, but still incomplete.
The story lamented how neighboring Colorado
boasted having six peaks with summits over 14,000 feet, while Utah has none.
(In reality, Colorado has 56 named summits over 14,000 feet.)
Mount Elbert in Colorado, that state's highes peak at 14,433 feet above sea level.
“This beats
the best we can do in Utah,” the report by C.R. Savage stated. “Peak climbing
is fashionable in that Territory. With us it is not. Visitors to Utah get all
their impressions from our city hotels. Very few pierce the hidden wonders of
the Wasatch, as seen in Big Cottonwood and American Fork canyons, southward,
our Clear Creek, Little Zion valleys, etc.”
What was
“Little Zion?” The Deseret News of April 16, 1875 stated, “Those who admire the
wonders of nature should pay a visit to Little Zion valley.”
This was one
of the very first references to what would become Zion National Park. “Little
Zion” was its name then, as some in Utah Territory still thought strictly
speaking, Salt Lake City was the true Zion.
Even as late
as 1916, “Little Zion” was how the future national park was still referred to.
The Washington County News of St. George in its Oct. 12, 1916 edition called it
that.
-Access to
Zion National Park was also Not a direct route during its early years. The
Beaver County News of Oct. 21, 1937 reported on a new $240,000 bridge over the
Virgin River that shortened the distance between Hurricane and St. George by 13
miles – and that this also shortened the distance to Zion Park by the same
distance.
The story
stated the new bridge “makes unnecessary further use of the one of the most
tortuous and dangerous dugways in the state.”
The
Hurricane Chamber of Commerce hosted a full day of celebration for the new
bridge, noting that a new high school, LDS chapel and a culinary water system
were all added to Hurricane in the past two years.
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