Today in History

On August 5, 1858, Julia Archibald Holmes... became the first woman on record to reach the summit of Pike's Peak. She, her husband James Holmes, and two others began their trek on August 1. For the ascent, Julia Holmes wore what she called her "American costume" -- a short dress, bloomers, moccasins and a hat.She kept a journal in which she wrote, "I have accomplished the task which I marked out for myself . . . Nearly everyone tried to discourage me from attempting it, but I believed that I should succeed . . . "¹

Pike's Peak takes its name from Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, who, fifty years prior to Holmes ascent, led an expedition to reconnaissance the southwestern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. After a frustrated attempt to climb to its top, he declared the peak "impossible" to ascend.

During the administration of President Monroe, in 1820, another party, under Major Stephen H. Long, was sent to explore this area. Dr. Edwin James, historian of Long's expedition, led the first recorded ascent of Pike's Peak in July of that year.

When gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858, the phrase "Pike's Peak or Bust" entered American parlance. Pike's Peak was used as verbal shorthand for a vast area in the general range of the peak presumed to be rich in gold. In 1891, the year of the discovery of the great gold field at Cripple Creek, the Pike's Peak cog railroad began operating.

Katharine Lee Bates's 1893 climb to the top of Pike's Peak inspired her to compose a poem. Her text, later set to music, is the beloved American hymn, "America, the Beautiful," which vied with "The Star-Spangled Banner" to become the national anthem:

The advent of the automobile brought more visitors to Pike's Peak. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, Spencer Penrose built a toll road, completed in 1915, for auto travel to the top of Pike's Peak. Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was among the first to race up the new road.

Today, Pike's Peak is easy to access by trail, railroad, or car. Located in the southeastern corner of the Pike National Forest, it ranks 32nd in altitude (14,110 feet or 4,301 meters) among Colorado's numerous peaks.

• View more photographic and cartographic images search on Pike's Peak in the following collections:
  
  • History of the American West: 1869-1920
    
  • Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920.
    
  • American Environmental Photographs: 1891-1936
    
  • Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
    
  • Map Collections (1500-Present)
    
• Learn more about Native American Culture of Colorado and the surrounding areas see the special presentation Native American Women in History of the American West: 1869-1920. Other presentations associated with this collection include L. C. McClure & Denver, The City Beautiful (scroll sideways to view), The 10th Mountain Division (ski troops based in Colorado who saw action in Italy during WWII), and Biographies of Selected Western Photographers.
• Search on Pike's Peak in American Life Histories, 1936-1940 and in California As I Saw It, 1849-1900 to read personal accounts of Pike's Peak.