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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Phred, they're magnetic lines as I am pretty sure Cook wasn't
working on true north. Of course, the magnetic pole has changed quite
a bit since Cook was there but relatively we're still in the ball park.
As to Grosvenor I did draw a 83.5/263.5 line from it but the intersection
with the Church line was right at the base of Church so that didn't seem
likely. I should add that the other bearings make no sense so who knows?
A line from the intersection south of Glacier Point to Dickey is 299 MN
which is greatly at odds with whatever that sketch shows as 266 for the
next to last on the right. If Barrile is the furthest right you can add
another 5 degrees. It could be assumed that Cook's cartographic skills
were at least as suspect as his integrity.
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David Roberts
Mountain climber
Watertown, MA
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Mark, thanks for the link to the DIOI article, which I was unaware of. Bryce has done a remarkable job of deciphering Cook's execrable handwriting. And thanks to all of you for some pretty savvy conjuring with possible compass direction lines.
Matt Hale sent me a digital copy of the diary itself. Bryce focuses almost exclusively on the sketches, which of course are of paramount importance. But here are a few top-of-the-head comments on the diary passages themselves (forgive me if I've overlooked any commentary by Bryce on same).
There are big blank spaces in the diary between very cursory entries between Sept. 12-18. Could these be lacunae into which Cook intended later to insert faked entries to "cover" the magnificent ascent?
In these pages Cook calls his partner "Brill." If he couldn't even spell Barrill's name right, does it not seem highly unlikely that Cook named Mt. Barrill[e]?
There is a last entry titled "Questions," which Matt is trying to transcribe. They sound like a man anticipating the assaults of skeptics, and figuring out how to bluff his way through plausible responses. There seems no doubt that Cook planned the hoax from the moment he decided to return to the Ruth.
Finally--could we get Brian Okonek to join our thread? He seems to have done some of the best sleuthing of all on the ground. Could you guys in Anchorage contact Brian?
Fascinating and fascinatinger . . . .
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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There seems no doubt that Cook planned the hoax from the moment he decided to return to the Ruth.
I remember reading that Belmore Browne was shocked when he heard that Cook had decided "to make one last desperate attempt on McKinley" in late August of 1906. He thought it very odd that Cook was heading back in so late in the season and on short notice.
I'll see if I can reach Brian in the next day or two, we live in the same town. I'm sure he will have some interesting information.
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Phred
Mountain climber
Anchorage
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I sent Brian an email inviting him to join the fun.
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Matt Hale
climber
Alexandria VA
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Mark - Thanks for cut-and-pasting the explanation of the captions on Cook's sketches.The second sketch was particularly unreadable for me.
David Roberts refers to a set of questions Cook posed in his diary. They're the next to the last entry in the diary, separated by 40 blank pages from the previous entry. The page has the heading: "Question" followed by (as best I can read the handwriting) "Was there any wind. How cold How did the mtn look from the top. How did you make it. Porter why not tell news of final ascent" The final sentence is somewhat sketchy - here's the text.
The next page with text, p. 170, is a lecture outline. So it makes sense that the questions are what he expects being asked.
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Matt Hale
climber
Alexandria VA
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I meant to ask if anyone knows who Porter is.
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Phred
Mountain climber
Anchorage
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Email from Brian Okonek:
Hi Steve,
Dr. Fredrick Cook undoubtably named Mt. Johnson. In his book “To the Top of the Continent” 1909 edition there is a photograph opposite page 192 of the Ruth Gorge peaks taken from Glacier Point. The peaks are labeled Mt. Church, Mt. Grosvenor, Mt. Johnson, Mt. Wake and Mt. Bradley and the photograph has Copy Right of 1907. Belmore Browne did not ascend the Ruth Glacier through the Great Gorge until 1910. Gilbert H. Grosvenor was editor of the National Geographic Society which was supporting Cook’s expedition. ( See “Cook Peary The Polar Controversy, Resolved” by Robert Bryce page 264). John R. Bradley owned a gambling club in Palm Beach and was a millionaire. He had gone to the Arctic with Cook to hunt big game animals and helped fund Cook’s expeditions. ( See “Cook Peary The Polar Controversy, Resolved” by Robert Bryce page 294). Cook had also named a big lake in honor of Bradley that his 1906 Denali expedition passed by on his approach to the Alaska Range now called Chelatna Lake. After Cook returned from his North Pole expedition he left his original notebooks with a Charles Wake in New York City. ( See “Cook Peary The Polar Controversy, Resolved” by Robert Bryce page 457). This is perhaps the person that Cook named Mt. Wake after. There is no mention of a person named Church or Johnson in Bryce’s book and I have not seen reference to the names in Washburn’s books. I imagine that they are people that helped fund Cook’s expedition. I have not come across reference to who Johnson was. The Cook Society should be able to shed some light on the issue.
Cheers,
Brian Okonek
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David Roberts
Mountain climber
Watertown, MA
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Brian--Thanks for your succinct summary of the naming of the peaks. Your work with Brad rediscovering the places from which Cook shot his photos was brilliant.
The work of all of you in this thread, I think, has unearthed the likely identities of Church, Grosvenor, Johnson, Wake, and Bradley. I think this deserves a more permanent record, say in the next AAJ. After all, those mountains, however ill-named, have been the arenas of some of the boldest cutting-edge climbs in North America during the last few decades.
Steve? Mark? Greg?
Matt's perusal of Cook's diary in the Library of Congress makes it clear that Cook didn't name the peaks in the diary, but only in a caption to the photo in TO THE TOP OF THE CONTINENT.
It's pretty clear that Washburn named Mount Dickey in 1955, though it didn't become official until 1960. I think it's still uncertain who named Mount Barrill[e]. Not Cook, I'd guess.
Matt's highlighting of that strange last page in Cook's diary, titled "Questions" (plural as I read it, not singular), remains tantalizing. It sure looks like the memorandum of a man trying to figure out the kinds of data he needs to win over doubters as he spins his fairy tale of the first ascent of McKinley. The last line--"Porter why not tell news of the final ascent" (could "news" be "more"?)--is very curious. Wikipedia, as Steve cites, says that Russell Porter was skeptical of Cook's claim. Yet Porter later supplied drawings for TOP OF THE CONTINENT. On the other hand, according to Washburn and Cherici (p. 56), Cook stiffed Porter for the $750 he owed him for making lowland surveys and maps while he and Barrill were up on the Ruth.
Porter's own account is in his memoir, THE ARCTIC DIARY OF RUSSELL WILLIAMS PORTER (U. of Va. Press, ca. 1976). Can anybody find that online? If not, I can borrow it from the Harvard libraries. I'm intrigued to see just what Porter says.
Again, great work here by many people. It's been invigorating to take part in this roundtable.
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Matt Hale
climber
Alexandria VA
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On Cook's diary entry "Questions" - The final sentence could easily be "Porter why not tell more of final ascent." Cook's initial m's in the diary are usually more prominent, but "more" probably makes more sense in this context. I included the original text especially because of its ambiguities.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2016 - 09:42am PT
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^^^ David, agreed, this has been and is tons of fun. I'd think Steve and/or Mark are more authentic AAJ contributor's than I would be... all I did was pose a few questions.
I'm still hopeful we can learn more about the namesakes through Laura Kissel at the OSU polar archive. Or perhaps get some kind of confirmation.
I wonder if Cook did the naming as he was writing his book and had that excellent photo to publish and caption? And by then, out of the mountains, he strikes me as the kind of guy who would be scheming for future advantage the naming might afford.
That might also explain why Dickey and Barill[e] didn't get named... because Cook didn't have a good photo of those peaks to put in the book.
(I'm just postulating, obviously...)
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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I think Cook named "Barrille"...
Great stuff, guys!
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2016 - 09:50am PT
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Got it, Brian. That looks like the same sort of confirmation as we've accepted for Church, Grosvenor, Johnson, Wake, and Bradley.
And also conforms to my hypothesis that Cook didn't name Dickey because he didn't have a picture of it to put in his book.
(I'm just reaching for any plausible and reasonable explanation of why he didn't name it, and that one came to mind this morning. And how bizarre would that be? I'm open to any suggestions as to why he didn't name Dickey... and this morning I'm theorizing that he did the naming when he wrote and laid out the book, not when he was in the Gorge.)
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Phred
Mountain climber
Anchorage
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I had the same thought as Greg about the timing of the naming. Perhaps an editor said that they couldn't just have photos of those striking peaks in his book without attaching names to them and then Cook obliged. Since there wasn't a photo of Dickey, it remained unnamed until 1955. Mere conjecture on my part, but it sounds plausible to me.
As far as writing something for the AAJ, my first thought was that it was Greg's thread, so he would be the likely candidate. Failing that, Mark Westman would make a much more convincing source than I. I've never seen Mount Johnson, except from the air. I'd be happy to help review, but I really don't think I should be the primary author.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Great thread......the Ruth Gorge sure has a righteous lineup of alpine peaks!
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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I would definitely be interested in at least assisting someone with this project for the AAJ- my only issue is that I just got back to work at the park and am neck deep in training seminars as well as personal projects (including some other writing projects), and then patrols, for the next several months, so I can't honestly say I will have any serious time to devote towards it, at least as a primary author.
IMHO I would defer to Steve's historical expertise and Greg's professional writing skill.
So Greg Steve and I have each deferred to the other two. :)
Rock paper scissors?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2016 - 04:21pm PT
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Alright already... I'll do it, but Mark, Steve, and David have to promise to give it a "peer review" ahead of publication so that I can be assured of being mistake free...
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Phred
Mountain climber
Anchorage
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I had to chuckle at Mark's rock-paper-scissors comment.
Given the timing, I think the 2017 AAJ is the likely target, not the 2016 edition. I'd be happy to provide a review (I don't think it would be fair to you to call me a peer). And I can't guarantee a mistake-free piece, but it's a lovely goal.
I really enjoy this sort of team-effort sleuthing. There are probably hundreds or thousands of similar points of trivia out there for the mountains of Alaska. Who will pose the next question and what will it be?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 5, 2016 - 06:04pm PT
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Steve, I've been curious to ask about the mountain of data you've amassed....
How do you have it organized and indexed, and since a lot of it probably predates the digital age, how do you have it stored?
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MarkWestman
Trad climber
Talkeetna, Alaska
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Alright already... I'll do it, but Mark, Steve, and David have to promise to give it a "peer review" ahead of publication so that I can be assured of being mistake free...
Right on. I'll help anyway I can!
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