Mount Langford el. is a mountain peak in the
Absaroka Range
The Absaroka Range ( or ) is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Va ...
in
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
. The peak is named for
Nathaniel P. Langford
Nathaniel Pitt Langford (August 9, 1832 – October 18, 1911) was an American explorer, businessman, bureaucrat, vigilante and historian from Saint Paul, Minnesota who played an important role in the early years of the Montana gold fields, terri ...
, the first superintendent of Yellowstone and a leader of the
Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition
The Washburn Expedition of 1870 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that two years later became Yellowstone National Park. Led by Henry D. Washburn and Nathaniel P. Langford, and with a United States Army, U.S. Army escort headed by Lt. G ...
to Yellowstone in 1870. The expedition and Langford's subsequent promotion in
Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
helped in the creation of the park in 1872.
![NathanielPLangford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/NathanielPLangford.JPG)
On September 7, 1870 the Washburn expedition was camped along the southwestern shore of
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is above sea level and covers with of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is , its greatest depth is at least . Yellowstone Lake is the largest fre ...
. That day Langford and Lt.
Gustavus Cheyney Doane
Gustavus Cheyney Doane (May 29, 1840 – May 5, 1892) was a U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, inventor and Civil War soldier who played a prominent role in the exploration of Yellowstone as a member of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expeditio ...
chose to ascend a nearby peak. From that peak, Langford sketched the first reasonably accurate map of Yellowstone Lake. Upon their return to camp,
Henry D. Washburn
Henry Dana Washburn (March 28, 1832 – January 26, 1871) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a colonel and was breveted twice as brigadier general and major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Biography
Born in Wood ...
named the peak they ascended and a nearby secondary peak: Mount Langford and
Mount Doane
First Peoples Mountain (formerly Mount Doane) el. is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range in Yellowstone National Park. The peak was formerly named for Lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a U.S. Army cavalry officer who escorted the Washburn-La ...
.
They are annotated on the map Langford sketched. Langford described the summit with these words:
During the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, Hayden, for unknown reasons, moved the names of Mount Langford and Doane to peaks farther north. The original Mount Langford remained unnamed until 1885 when
Arnold Hague
Arnold Hague (December 3, 1840 in Boston, Massachusetts – May 14, 1917 in Washington, D.C.) was a United States geologist who did many geological surveys in the U.S., of which the best known was that for Yellowstone National Park. He also had as ...
named it
Colter Peak
Colter Peak el. is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range in the southeastern section of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is named for mountain man John Colter, reputedly the first white man to visit the Yellowstone region. Colter Peak was f ...
.
See also
*
Mountains and mountain ranges of Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though the park also extends into Montana and Idaho and its Mountains and Mountain Ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains. There are at least 70 named mountain peaks over ...
Notes
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Mountains of Wyoming
Mountains of Yellowstone National Park
Mountains of Park County, Wyoming