, 1898-08-26
THE ASCENT OF THE TEToNs.
Mr.. Anderson Wrong in Claiming 1t
For the Geographical Party.

FOT tne tarty.
Just before the ascent of the Grand
Teton by State Auditor Owen and
party. a Mr.. Anderson Of Blackfoot,
Idaho, rushed into print with a claim
that the feat had been accomplished
before, and attempted to throw ridicule
upon the assertion Of the party that
they intended to dc something which
had been done before. Now
comes another Idaho man, who COM
pletely refutes Mr.. Anderson's state
ments in the following communication
to the Salt Lake Tribune:
Editor Misunderstanding to the
publication Of the Blackfoot, Ida, cor
respondent in relation to the scaling
OF the Grand Teton by F. V. Hayden's
party. t.. e., Stevenson and Langford,
it may be said that Mr.. Anderson,
your correspondent. is as far from the
facts as he Is in relation to the naming
Of Jackson's Hole. At one time he
claimed he was personally acquainted
with the unaC whom Jackson's Hole
was named after, and HAT it was named
in 1860 or Whereabouts. So positive
was Mr.. Anderson of this incident of
Wyoming's history that the compiler
embodied in his works the Monte
Cristo tale of Mr.. Anderson, and after
ward corrected his notes to correspond
with Washington Irving's astoria
and Captain Bonneville, and later the
records OF the American Fur company,
which placed Mr.. Anderson's tale some
forty years late.
/ admit the records of the geological
survey. directed by Hayden, give credit
to Stevenson and Langford. Steven
son, however, afterward positively de
MED the scaling OF the Teton, but did
claim they were on the saddle belt
some distance from the top. Lang
ford in pursuance OF his credit mark in
the records. still persists in saying:
81 was on top the Grand Teton" The
fact is, neither of them was on top, and
every scientific man of that party and
that day now alive will bear out this
assertion. Thomas Cooper. one OF
Hayden's men, made a second attempt
in 1874 and failed. as Stevenson and
Langford had already done, and Stew
enson admitted to Cooper (who Is
now alive and living at Cheyenne.
Wyo.) that they stevenson and Lang
ford) did not reach the top. but had to
make a showing to get another appro-
priation from congress to keep them in
the field.
On the 18th day of August, at 4:2O
o'clock. w. o. Owen. B. Spaulding,
John and Frank Peterson reached the
very summit OF the Grand Teton. They
found no monuments, nc indications of
the handiwork of man. Conscious of
the records of the Hayden surveying
party. they determined upon giving
Langford the benifit OF every doubt,
and due credit il credit was due. There
was nothing to show on that granite
face, 14x27 feet surface, that mortal
man had moved a natural body or
misplaced a granite stone or slab. AS
nature left it, there they found it, 49,
800 feet above the sea. Standing there
these men knew and felt that the rec
ords Of the Hayden surveying party
had again been proven false, and that
Langford's claim was disproved and
his claim rendered nall and void in
face of indisputable facts confronting
them.
And l trust, in all fairness to the
reading public. that Mr.. Anderson's
funny arguments and m%isquoter OF
quotations from Hayden's records will
be forgiven, for Mr.. Anderson is GER
tainly mistaken, and If he keeps up his
reading for a very short time, he will
learn more and believe less Of old,
worn-out chestnuts Of years dead and
gone.