Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

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In your opinion, is the inscribed rock authentic?

Yes, the inscription is from June 1874.
16
67%
No, the inscription is a hoax.
8
33%
 
Total votes: 24
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14erFred
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Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by 14erFred »

Two friends and I climbed the South Ridge of Grays Peak from Horseshoe Basin on August 12. Before descending from the summit, I happened to look down at my feet just to the east of the main windbreak of rocks where the trail from Stevens Gulch crests at the top of the mountain. To my surprise, I spotted an inscription carved into a large, flat rock level with the ground: “Mr. & Mrs. M D PEAK JUNE 1874” (see attached photo).

When I pointed out the inscription to a stranger, he scoffed and claimed it was probably a hoax.

I’m wondering if anyone has seen this inscription before or knows anything about it. I can find no information about it on the Internet. However, the first recorded ascent of Grays Peak was in 1861 by British-American botanist and mountaineer Charles Parry. In addition, by 1874 Richard Irwin had built a horse trail to the summit, and tourists were riding to the top to admire the view.

Although the contemporary “leave no trace” policy frowns upon the defacing of natural features, this viewpoint was not the case in earlier times. Indeed, Native Americans engraved petroglyphs and thousands of migrating pioneers carved their names into Independence Rock along the Oregon Trail in south central Wyoming. However, Grays Peak is in the White River National Forest where it’s now against federal law to damage any natural feature or other property of the United States. And the maximum fine for defacing summit rocks is $5,000 and/or 6 months in jail.

My intention is not to debate the ethics of carving one’s name into summit rocks. Instead, I thought I’d poll Forum users to determine popular opinion regarding the authenticity of what appears to be a 142-year-old inscription on the summit of Grays Peak.

What do you think – is this carved rock authentic or not?
Carved stone on summit of Grays Peak (8-12-16) 2.JPEG
Carved stone on summit of Grays Peak (8-12-16) 2.JPEG (342.03 KiB) Viewed 2903 times
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TomPierce
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by TomPierce »

I have no idea about its authenticity, but if it was a hoax, to what end? I mean if it was the name of a famous person, etc., well...probably a hoax? But a random inscription of an unknown person? Who would take that much time for no (apparent) reason?

FWIW, there was a bank cashier (the Thorne Bank) from Hastings, MN during that time period named M.D. Peak. The wonders of the internet, took me 5 minutes to find...

Interesting. Who knows?

-Tom
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by Scott P »

It does look old. It would be a cool find if it is real.

You could inform the FS or historical society and see what they think.
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by TallGrass »

I'd say authentic. Believe it was Grays that had a US Army Signal Corp station atop it complete with windows which were gone by 1900 or so following decommission. There are photos of people atop with the horses they rode, including women in full dresses with heels, and many of the stones from the old post covered in graffitti. Coliseum in Rome has graffiti in Latin shorthand. Nun novis sub solis, or something like that.
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by Trotter »

Thats a tough one. Mr AND Mrs Gray were up there in 1872, so its possible another couple was in 1874

Google doesn't say anything about a US station up on grays though
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by 14erFred »

TallGrass wrote:I'd say authentic. Believe it was Grays that had a US Army Signal Corp station atop it complete with windows which were gone by 1900 or so following decommission. There are photos of people atop with the horses they rode, including women in full dresses with heels, and many of the stones from the old post covered in graffitti. Coliseum in Rome has graffiti in Latin shorthand. Nun novis sub solis, or something like that.
Here's an image of the old summit house atop Grays Peak that I retrieved from the Internet (http://www.miningbureau.com/new_page_8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).
Old Summit House atop Grays Peak.jpg
Old Summit House atop Grays Peak.jpg (106.03 KiB) Viewed 2509 times
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by Trotter »

I had to look it up myself, and sure enough there was a shelter up there. Not a lot of info on when it was constructed or destroyed

here is a cool photo of it again, with torreys in the backround.
gray.jpg
gray.jpg (121.48 KiB) Viewed 2335 times
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by giarcd »

How about that :shock:
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by bf31415 »

TomPierce wrote:I have no idea about its authenticity, but if it was a hoax, to what end? I mean if it was the name of a famous person, etc., well...probably a hoax? But a random inscription of an unknown person? Who would take that much time for no (apparent) reason?

FWIW, there was a bank cashier (the Thorne Bank) from Hastings, MN during that time period named M.D. Peak. The wonders of the internet, took me 5 minutes to find...

Interesting. Who knows?

-Tom
Did you check to see if there was anything under the carved stone? Perhaps a piece of parchment with latin writing offering mountaineering services?

Or maybe this rock is the 1874 version of a "selfie"?

Or what might have been said before they started carving the rock?? "Crap-- I thought you had the Sharpie!"

:-)



Did a bit more googling and found the following reference:

https://books.google.com/books?id=bthkA ... 74&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

which looks like there was an "M D Peak" that was a railroad director as of 1873.

And tying this into Georgetown and the RR there from their historical page

October 1871: Representatives from Georgetown meet with officials of the Colorado Central Railroad to discuss a better way to transport the millions of dollars of ore coming out of the region.

TIMELINE: THE RAILROAD
December 1872: The first railroad line up Clear Creek Canyon reaches Black Hawk. The construction, funded by bonds from Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties, was organized by William A.H. Loveland, a fifty-niner and proponent of the Colorado Central railroad.

1877: The railroad reaches Idaho Springs in June, thanks to financier Jay Gould who controlled the Union Pacific (UP) and supplied the necessary funds to complete both the route to Idaho Springs and the later route to Georgetown, completed in August 1877. The railroad makes access open for freight, ore, consumers and passengers to Georgetown. The Rocky Mountains are open for tourists.

1879: Georgetown becomes the "Silver Queen of Colorado" for only a short time that year when news of large silver strikes spread across the region from Leadville, one of the greatest strikes to date. Gould strives to have the Colorado Central be the first rail line to reach Leadville. The track to reach Leadville from Georgetown is an obstacle due to narrowing of the valley west of the city and an area where the average grade is over 6 percent (too steep for most trains). UP chief engineer, Jacob Blickensderfer, devises a system of curves and bridges, reducing the average grade to 3 percent. The plan includes three hairpin turns, four bridges and a 30-degree horseshoe curve from Georgetown to Silver Plume.

1884: The first trains arrive in Silver Plume. Another line, the Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG), is completed into Leadville from the south. Gould's interest in pushing the Georgetown line over the mountains wanes. The Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railroad line ends permanently a few miles past Silver Plume.

--

So connecting the dots and stretching, perhaps "M D Peak" was in the railroading business and was part of the effort to build the railroad up clear creek to leadville. Climbing up in the Bakerville area to evaluate options to reach Leadville might have been part of the reason to be on top of Grays. That or maybe "Mr and Mrs M D Peak" where on their path to be the first couple to summit all the CO's 14ers

Would be interesting to see if there is an M D Peak on the Georgetown or Idaho Springs census listings in 1880 (as it looks like they were from back east earlier..).
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by planet54 »

Trotter wrote:I had to look it up myself, and sure enough there was a shelter up there. Not a lot of info on when it was constructed or destroyed

here is a cool photo of it again, with torreys in the backround.
The attachment gray.jpg is no longer available


I found a photo similar to yours by W H Jackson ,1890 http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=52248" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Adding this : If you like old historical photos of Colorado and elsewhere check out this site
http://www.museumsyndicate.com/tag.php?id=79" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
52248.jpg
52248.jpg (67.77 KiB) Viewed 1855 times
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by Dan_Suitor »

At first I was skeptical because I would have expected more wear in the engraving over the 142 years. But some of the evidence points to it being true. Did you do anything to the engraving to make the lettering more prominent?
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Re: Carved rock on Grays Peak summit

Post by 14erFred »

Dan_Suitor wrote:At first I was skeptical because I would have expected more wear in the engraving over the 142 years. But some of the evidence points to it being true. Did you do anything to the engraving to make the lettering more prominent?
No -- I did nothing to enhance the appearance of the lettering. The photo I posted shows the engraving just as it naturally appears.
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