Roger Wolcott Toll (October 17, 1883 – February 25, 1936) was an American mountaineer, writer, and a

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

official who served as the superintendent of

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

Toll was born in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

on October 17, 1883, the second of four sons of Charles Hansen Toll and Katherine Wolcott Toll, who is the daughter of Congregationalist minister Samuel Wolcott, a distant relative of colonial governor Roger Wolcott and United States Founding Father Oliver Wolcott. His uncle,

Edward O. Wolcott Edward Oliver Wolcott (March 26, 1848 – March 1, 1905) was an American politician during the 1890s, who served for 12 years as a Senator from the state of Colorado. Early life Wolcott was born on March 26, 1848 in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. H ...

, was a

United States senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from Denver, and his aunt was the educator

Anna Wolcott Vaile Anna Wolcott Vaile (May 25, 1868–1928) was an American educator who established the Wolcott School for Girls and was on the Board of Regents for the University of Colorado. Early life Anna Louise Wolcott was born on May 25, 1868 in Providence, ...

. Toll graduated from Manual High School in Denver and attended the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

for one year before transferring to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, from which he graduated with a B.S. in engineering in 1906. After graduation, he spent a year traveling around the world before returning to work for the

Massachusetts Department of Public Health The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is a governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with various responsibilities related to public health within that state. It is headquartered in Boston and headed by Commissioner Monica B ...

. In 1908, he was hired by the

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

and was tasked to survey the coastline of

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its sou ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

from April to October 1908. Upon his return, Toll began a position with the Denver Tramway Company, eventually being promoted to chief engineer of the company. He was also one of the founding members of the

Colorado Mountain Club The Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), formed in 1912, is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) outdoor education organization based in Golden, Colorado that gathers and disseminates information regarding Colorado's mountains in the areas of art, science, literatu ...

. In 1916, he made the first ascent of Mount Columbia, and named it after his alma mater. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Toll served in the Ordnance Corps and was promoted to the rank of major. In the army, Toll befriended

Horace M. Albright Horace Marden Albright (January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1987) was an American conservation movement, conservationist. Horace Albright was born in 1890 in Bishop, California, the son of George Albright, a miner. He graduated from the University of ...

, who recommended Toll to

director

Stephen T. Mather Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park Service. As president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company he became a million ...

as a possible candidate for the superintendent position at

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...

. Toll was hired in May 1919 and served as superintendent until 1921, when he transferred to

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

as superintendent, serving in the position until 1929. He made the first recorded ascent of

Kautz Glacier The Kautz Glacier is a narrow glacier on the southern flank of Mount Rainier in Washington. Named for August Kautz, who is sometimes credited for the first ascent of Mount Rainier, covers and contains 7.8 billion ft3 (221 million m3) of ice. U ...

and built the

Agnes Vaille Shelter The Agnes Vaille Shelter is a beehive-shaped stone shelter along E. Longs Peak Trail near the summit of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. The first shelter was built in 1927 by the National Park Service after a number of ...

in honor of his cousin, Agnes Wolcott Vaille, who died in a climbing accident. In 1929, he took over the superintendent's position from Albright at

and served as field assistant to director Albright. In 1936, Toll served on a commission to charter potential international parks and wildlife refuges along the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

and died in an automobile accident near

Deming, New Mexico Deming (, ''DEM-ing'') is a city in Luna County, New Mexico, Luna County, New Mexico, United States, west of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Las Cruces and north of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. The population was 14,855 as of the ...

. He is the namesake for

Mount Toll Mount Toll is a mountain summit on the boundary shared by Boulder County and Grand County, in Colorado, United States. Description Mount Toll is set on the Continental Divide in the Front Range which is a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. The m ...

in Colorado. The mountain was officially named in his honor in 1940.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toll, Roger W. 1883 births 1936 deaths National Park Service personnel American mountain climbers American conservationists Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Road incident deaths in New Mexico