Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-04
IN MEMORY OF PIKE
Centennial Celebration by the
People of Colorado Springs.
RECALLING THE EXPLORER
Discovery of the Peak That Bears His
Name.
STORY OF THE EXPEDITION
Intense Interest Of President Thomas
Jefferson in the Great Tract Pur-
chased From Napoleon.
STORY OF THE EXPEDITION
BY wILLIEM E. CURTIS.

l pAotC thC 1OVtH anniversary OF the dis
covery of Pixies peak. The program will
last one week, beginning September "A,
1906, although it was not until November
| 26, 1906, that Pike attempted the ascent
of the mountain. His was the first mill
tary and the second exploring expedition
ever sent out by our government, and it's
| object was to learn something about the
| territory recently acquired by what is
| known as the Louisiana purchase" 1t
| originated with President Thomas JET
| ferson, who had previously sent Lewis
| and Clark up the Missouri For the same
reason he sent Zebulon Pike with small
| command into the southwest TO explore
| the vast territory he had purchased to
| ascertain what sort of a bargain he had
| made with Napoleon. For the northwest
| ern expedition he selected his own pri-
| Vate secretary and Lieut.. Clark a brother
| of George Rogers Clark who kept the
| indians from aiding the British in the
| war or the revolution. and for the south
western expedition he selected Zebulon
| montgomery Pike, a simple minded but
| intrepid soldier, who had explored Michi-
gan. Wisconsin and Minnesota in an ener-
| get1c and intelligent manner.
JenerSonS interest In the unexplored
west was intense. He never tired of lis
| tening TO front1ersmen who had visited
| the prairies and the mountains, and his
high estimate of the value of the resourc-
|
| of the Mississippi river caused him to be
| ridiculed for credulity, though 1t was
| trlf1ing compared with the actual truth,
He told Gallatin one day that he had re-
liable information that less than LOO
miles from st. Louis there was a silver
mine big enough to fill his treasury, and
was ridiculed for the absurd boast.
Pixies Expedition.
Pike left Bellefontaine, a little village
| in the suburbs of st. Louis, Tuesday. july
| 10, 1906. This had also been the starting
point of the Lewis and Clark expedition,
and Clarks remains lie buried in the lit
tie cemetery beside the town.
In Pixies party We're Lieut.. James B.
Wllkerson OF the United States army.
three non-commisSioned officers sixteen
privates and fifty-one Indian scouts. with
DR.. John H. Robinson, a volunteer sur
geon, and A. f. Baronet Vasquez an in
terpretef Inc Missouri river was follow
ed to the mouth of the Usage, and the lat
ter to the villages of the Indians of that
| name Then, turning westward, the party
proceeded overland through Kansas until
they reached the Arkansas river aft the
present site of the town of Great Bend
There, August %. the party divided VIII
k1nson, with Sergt. Ballenger and four
men, descended the Arkansas to the Mis-
sissippl river and proceeded south, reach
ing New Orleans in February, 1907 about
the time that Pike was arrested and
taken to Santa Fee.
valley of the Arkansas as far as the present
site of the city of Pueblo where he erected
stockade, and, leaving his men in camD
attempted to ascend the mountain which
upholds his name. But he did not reach
the summit. 1t is possible that he with
DIR. Robinson and two private soldiers
named Brown and Miller, are the first
white men who ever attempted the ascent
They were probably the first to witness
the grandeur of the scenery, unless possibly
some Spanish officer may have wandered
that far north from Mexico. The first men
to reach the summit of the peak were Dr.
Edwin James, Mr.. Wilson and two other
members of Major Longs military expedt-
ton to the Rocky mountains on the 18th
and l4th OF July, 1920. The mountain was
called James Peak for many years IT
appears upon several of the early maps
with that title, although Fremont, in his
report and on the map of his explora lions
in 1S43-44 calls 1t Pixies Peak, and he prob
ably fastened down the name; although
Governor Alvah Adams of Colorado says
that 'it was not irrevocably christened UNI
til the Pixies Peak gold excitement
Capt. Pixies Discovery.
Captain Pike kept very careful diary
of his experience and the original is on file
here in the War Department. The first
allusion to the magnificent mountain which
stands as the sentinel of the Rockies ap-
pears in his record of November Is, 1905,
in which he says:
AT o'clock in the afternoon I thought
l could distinguish mountain to our right
which appeared like a small blue cloud:
viewed 1t with a spy-glass and was still
more confirmed In my conjecture, yet only
communicated it to DR.. Robinson: but in
half an hour 1t appeared in full view before
Us. When our small party arrived on the
hill they, with one accord, gave three cheers
for the Mexican mountain" Capt Pike
| then explained that the peak referred to
| must be spur of 1.-The grand western
| chain Of mountains which divide the waters
OF the Pacific from those of the Atlantic
| ocean"
He reached the present site of Pueblo on
| the evening of November % and remarks
| that Notwithstanding their progress toward
! 1t, his party could find no visible difference
| In the distance to the peak. On November
q he had an adventure. His little COM
mand, when only sixteen strong was joined
| by about sixty Indians, who acted in
very disagreeable and suspicious manner
| and endeavored to steal food and arms.
| They demanded ammunition, corn, blan-
| kets, kettles, ETC., all Of which were re-
| fused" he says in his diary. "notwithstand-
| Ing the pressing instances of my interpreter
| to accord some of the points. When we
| began to load our horses they encircled us
| and commenced stealing everything they
could. I ordered my men to take their
arms and separate themselves from the
| savages, at the same time declaring to them
| that I would kill the first man who touched
| our baggage. On which they commenced
| fling off Immediately We marched at
| had made out to steal one sword, toma-
| hawk, broadaxe, five canteens and sundry
| other small articles"
| On the oath of November. he writes:
| EARLY in the morning we cut down four
| teen logs and put up breastwork having
| three sides. and the other thrown on the
| river" This was the first wooden building,
| and the first fortifcation,t ever erected in
| Colorado, and It is probable that the United
| States flag flew in that state for the first
| time in the center of that little stockade.
| The precise spot has never been located
| but he says It was ION the south side of
| the Arkansas river. a slight distance above
| the mouth of Fountain river"
Ascent Of the Mountain
The distance direct to Pixies Peak is
| about fifty miles from that spot, and, like
every other tenderfoot. Capt Pike was de-
ceived by the clearness of the atmosphere
I He naively states in his diary that he
marched at l o'clock with an idea of ar
irving at the foot of the mountain before
night, but found ourselves obliged to take
1 up our lodgings under single cedar which
/ we found on the prairie. without water and
/ extremely cold And he marched al the
i next day with an expectation of ascend
4 L - <.zy~ ~