Why is it called Pikes Peak? The history behind the name

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Every year locals and tourists flock to Pikes Peak to enjoy the mountain air and climb (or drive) up one of the more difficult 14ers in Colorado. But do you know the full story behind why it's called Pikes Peak?

It's believed that Pikes Peak is named after 19th-century explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike, however, he wasn't the first one to name the mountain.

He might've been the first white American explorer in the area to document his journey, but long before he ever set foot on the mountain, the Ute People called it Tavakiev or "Sun Mountain."

"When Zebulon Pike actually came here, he didn't necessarily note it as 'Pike's Peak' -- he called it The Highest Peak or Grand Peak," said Brett Lobello, Director of Regional History and Genealogy for the Pikes Peak Library District. "Folks ended up calling it 'Pike's Grandest Peak', and that's where the possessive came from."

According to Lobello, Pike never actually referred to the mountain as his own. In his writings and maps, the reference to his name was only used because he was the one observing the mountain. He never meant to claim Pikes Peak as his own.

"Pikes Peak never was Pike's specific peak, it was always just a qualifier for the highest peak," said Lobello, "His purpose wasn't to come here and necessarily claim land for himself or the people that were with him to settle it, it was to figure out and track how you could get through these mountains."

Pike never actually climbed to the top of Pikes Peak. James Edmund is known as the first white explorer to succeed, and the name "James Peak" began to gain traction soon after.

The Gold Rush changed it all.

By the 1850s, the mountain began to be known as "Pike's Highest Point" or "Pike's Grand Peak." According to PBS, the slogan "Pikes Peak or Bust" became well known after gold was discovered in Colorado.

When looking at Zebulon Pike's maps, people would refer to it as "Pike's Grandest Peak", and the name we know now came soon after.

However, during that time period, the printing press was difficult to use and required each individual letter to be placed by hand. Out of convenience, newspapers, and topographers shortened the name to simply "Pike's Peak."

"Everybody knew about Pikes Peak, it was almost this mythical place that represented all of the Rocky Mountains," Lobello said.

But there was still the apostrophe back then. Towards the end of the 1800s was when the name as we knew it came into existence.

In 1890, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) was founded to establish and maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government.

According to the board's 'Principles, Policies, and Procedures,' apostrophes would not be applied when referring to a specific geographic name.

Under genitive apostrophes, the guidebook states:

"Apostrophes suggesting possession or association are discouraged within the body of a proper geographic name (Henrys Fork: not Henry’s Fork). The word or words that form a geographic name change their connotative function and together become a single denotative unit. They change from words having specific dictionary meaning to fixed labels used to refer to geographic entities. The need to imply possession or association no longer exists."

Going forward, names like "James' town" and "Richard's son's creek" were no longer used, rather those places were called "Jamestown" and "Richardsons Creek".

According to Lobello, the decision by the BGN wasn't implemented overnight. For a brief time after 1890, people and companies would use Pikes Peak and Pike's Peak interchangeably before the former became well known.

"There was a gap time of about 10 to 15 years when you still had ... advertisements and the newspapers [use] the apostrophe s," said Lobello. "It took a little bit of time before it became common use."

During that time, the Pikes Peak Cog Railway came into existence. Having started in 1891, it's no surprise on the side of some of the trains, the name "Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway Company" remains with the inclusion of the apostrophe.

While the name of Pikes Peak might have more to do with The Gold Rush and the printing press, other mountain names in Colorado have a more controversial past.

In December of 2020, the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes partnered with The Wilderness Society to submit an official Letter-Petition to rename Mount Evans in Clear Creek County.

Mount Evans is named after then-territorial governor John Evans, who, according to The Smithsonian Magazine, called on citizens to “kill and destroy" Native People in what's now referred to as the Sand Creek Massacre.

The petition proposes to rename Mt. Evans as Mt. Blue Sky, saying the Arapaho were known as the Blue Sky People and the Cheyenne have an annual ceremony of renewal of life called Blue Sky.

This wasn't the first time people have supported a name change. According to 9News, in 2018 a Denver Public Schools teacher started a petition asking to change the name to honor the Native People.

"It’s time to discontinue using Evans’ name because we do not honor mass killing of human life for any reason," wrote the Denver American Indian Commission. "Colorado’s interest in promoting inclusivity is stronger than any prior interest in honoring a man who is known for politically targeting Tribes (Utes, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota) with messages of hate and fear, of which directly resulted in a massacre of over 160 people, including mostly women and children."

While no decision has ever been officially made, Governor Polis established the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board in July 2020. Its purpose is to "evaluate proposals concerning name changes, new names, and name controversies of geographic features and certain public places in the State of Colorado and then making official recommendations to the Governor."

From Tavakiev to The Highest Point to James Peak, Pikes Peak has undergone several changes, and the final decision of the name goes deeper than a grammatical decision. A name born out of convenience and notoriety has kept Zebulon Pike's memory alive in southern Colorado for centuries.

"He never would've imagined that we'd be calling it Pikes Peak in 2021."