at he had undertaken a
tremendous task; but the pride of man is never more obstinate than when
climbing mountains. The ascent was so steep and rugged that he and his
companion were frequently obliged to clamber on hands and knees, with
their guns slung upon their backs. Frequently, exhausted with fatigue
and dripping with perspiration, they threw themselves upon the snow, and
took handfuls of it to allay their parching thirst. At one place they
even stripped off their coats and hung them upon the bushes, and thus
lightly clad proceeded to scramble over these eternal snows. As they
ascended still higher there were cool breezes that refreshed and braced
them, and, springing with new ardor to their task, they at length
attained the summit."]

[Footnote P: Soon after the return of our party to Helena, General
Washburn, then surveyor-general of Montana, made in his office for the
Interior Department at Washington, a map of the Yellowstone region, a
copy of which he gave to me. He told me that in recognition of the
assistance I had rendered him in making a fair outline of Yellowstone
lake, with its indented shore and promontories, he had named for me the
mountain on the top of which I stood when I made the sketch of the south
shore of the lake. I called his attention to the fact that Lieutenant
Doane had been my comrade in making the ascent, and suggested that
Doane's name be given to the adjoining peak on the north. He approved of
this suggestion, and the map, with these mountains so named, was
transmitted to the Interior Department.

Dr. Hayden, the geologist in charge of the United States geological
survey, made his first visit to this region the following year (1871),
and on the map which he issued in connection with his 1871 report, the
name "Mount Langford" was given to another mountain far to the
northeast. Since that time my name has again been transferred to a
mountain on the southeast. I think that Dr. Hayden must have been aware
at that time that this mountain bore my name; for he had read the
account of the Washburn exploration, which was published in Scribner's
Magazine for May, 1871, accompanied by a copy of the map made by General
Washburn.

The significance of connecting my name with this mountain is centered in
the circumstance that it was intended to mark or commemorate an
important event--that of giving to the public a very correct outline map
of Yellowstone lake. In confirmation of the fact that the fir