The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-10-08


mountain in way epitomizes the progress of the
west.
Although Lieut.. Zebulon NJ Pike u S. A., the
Intrepid explorer, first discovered Pixies Peak in
1906 he never scaled the mountain, saying the
task was impossible for human being But Dr.
Edwin James, a member of the expedition OF
Major Long, In 1920, accomplished the feat
Major Long, In honor of James accomplishment
named the peak james Peak" but as early as
lo4O trappers and painsmen named 1t pixies
Peak" and Fremont put II SO the map
In 1878 a bride path built a wagon
road to the summit was built In 1880 and in 1891
the cog wheel railroad nine miles long, was
built. The weather bureau established station
on the summit In 1915 the present automobile
road was built at cost of 100000, after two
years of construction work This road Is eighteen
miles long, rises 6,695 feet In that distance, has
an average grade of seven per cent and a maxi
mum grade of 101a per cent, with AZ per cent
OF the line In curves. 1t is twenty feet wide with
curves wide as fifty feet
In April, 1919, government tank at
tempted to climb the peak over the automobile
highway, but broke down In the deep drifts
and did not make second attempt. month
later a caterpillar, used for artillery hauling
made the summit without difficulty. August 8,
1919, an arplane, poted by Alexander Lendrum
of Colorado Springs made successful trip
the summit Of the peak.
This brings us to date. Now man is reforest-
ing the lower slopes of the famous peak
But first word about the first ascent DR..
James only % years old at the time. Starting
from Council Bluffs the explorers reached what
is Colorado City July H. 1920 July ID he
started with four men for the top. The late
Frederick S. Deenbaugh, a member of several
government expeditions in the west wrote this
of the climb of Dr. James:
about they came to the Boiling Spring.
the present well-known spring of Manitou, which
gives name to the stream of which it forms
source. This beautiful spring Of great inter-
est to James and they had their lunch beside it.
Through its crystal waters could be on the
bottom the offerings of beads and trinkets by
the Indians.
1.-The night of the 18th, James and his COM
panions spent In most uncomfortable place, and
on the next morning started early with the hope
of making the round journey before dark. About
noon the timber line, III 720 feet. was reached
and by 4 o'clock they stood on the mighty sum-
NIT 14,10S feet above the and 5000 feet above
the plains, and could on the east the prairie
ocean melting into the limtless distance, while
on the other hand spread away broad chaos of
peaks, canyons, valleys, fading into the depths of
the unknown wilderness. Vast clouds of grass
hoppers were flying the peak, sometimes SO
dense almost to obscure the light.
"After half an hour on the majestic summit now
reached by prosaic railway, the descent began.
Losing their course. they failed to reach the camp
of the previous night and were forced to sleep
out with food shelter or comfort Of any
kind; not after all awful 1t sounds. As
soon as light came In the morning they continued
and reached their camp, only to find 1t ablaze;
the fire had spread and consumed everything
except a few scraps of food, which they
greedily breakfasted."
The American Forestry Association of Wash
ington estimates that of the 100 million odd
acres of national forests there are seven and a
half million acres in need of planting seeding
to re-establish tree growth. The yearly loss to
the nation IN forest products from lands suited
only for the production of timber and now idle is
said to be $65,0OO,0O0 No large sums have been
specifically appropriated by congress to reforest
the denuded lands within the national forests, so
that the acreage planted each year has been nom-
nal and the work Of an experimental character. In
pkoking tn aseas In the national forests where