Albert Hale Sylvester
Encyclopedia
Albert Hale Slyvester (1871 – September 14, 1944) was a pioneer surveyor
, explorer, and forest supervisor in the Cascade Range
of the U.S. state
of Washington. He was a topographer for the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) in the Snoqualmie Ranger District between 1897 and 1907. Then, from 1908 to 1931, he served the United States Forest Service
as the first forest supervisor of Wenatchee National Forest
. His work involved the first detailed surveying and mapping of large portions of the Cascade Range in Washington, over the course of which he gave names to over 1,000 natural features. The surveying work often required placing cairns and other survey targets on top of mountains. He made the first ascents of a number of mountains in Washington. Over the course of his career he explored areas previously unknown to non-indigenous people. One such area, which Sylvester discovered, explored, and named, is The Enchantments
. In 1944, while leading a party of friends to one of his favorite parts of the mountains, Sylvester was mortally wounded when his horse panicked and lost his footing on a steep and rocky slope.
He once wrote that of all the many places he had explored and visited in the Cascades he thought the most beautiful was the Buck Creek area, near Buck Creek Pass at the crest of the Cascades in northeast Chelan County. Buck Creek flows southeast to the Chiwawa River
.
, he wrote, "it was an enchanting scene. I named the group Enchantment Lakes."
During his career the region between Snoqualmie Pass
and the North Cascades
, where he did most of his work, was frequently updated with new maps showing the results of ongoing USGS and Forest Service surveying and exploring. This made it possible for Sylvester's place names
to become well established and used. His prolific place naming was due in part to Gifford Pinchot
, the first Chief of the Forest Service. During the Pinchot era national forests
were relatively new and often largely unmapped and lacking in place names. In order to better protect the forests from wildfire
it was necessary to have names for natural features and detailed maps so that fires could be located by name and fire fighters sent to the right places. In regions like the Wenatchee National Forest there were a large number of unnamed features. Significant parts of the mountains were essentially unexplored, except by Native Americans and, in some areas, prospectors
, who tended to be secretive about their discoveries. Thus Sylvester found himself exploring and mapping a large region with relatively few established names and what amounted to a mandate to bestow names.
Sylvester described his experience: I didn't contact the habit [place naming] very intensely in the survey [USGS]... Coming into the Forest Service and finding that in fire protection work it was very desirable, even imperative, that the natural features capable of being named should have names as an aid in locating fire and sending in crews to combat them, I began place-naming more diligently.
Sylvester's place names are scattered over much of the central and northern Cascades in Washington. They are particularly dense in the Wenatchee Mountains
, Entiat Mountains
, Chelan Mountains
, and the Glacier Peak
area, today's Glacier Peak Wilderness
. In some river basins, such as the Chiwawa River
, Little Wenatchee River
, White River, and Entiat River
basins, nearly every stream and peak was named by Sylvester.
His naming was often creative, patterned, sometimes practical and descriptive, sometimes whimsical. Examples of patterned place naming include Aurora Creek and Borealis Ridge, Choral and Anthem Creeks ("singing streams"), all in the upper Entiat valley; the three "baking powder creeks", Royal, Crescent, and Schilling Creeks, named for then-popular brands of baking powder; the "American poets' peaks Bryant Peak (for William Cullen Bryant
), Irving Peak (for Washington Irving
), Longfellow Mountain (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
), Poe Mountain (for Edgar Allan Poe
), and Whittier Peak (for John Greenleaf Whittier
). He named Indian Pass and Indian Creek for the ancient Indian trail over the pass, and in association he named nearby Indian Head Peak and Papoose Creek, a tributary of Indian Creek. Near Indian Creek he named Kloochman Creek and Tillicum Creek, Chinook Jargon
terms for wife and friend, "figuring that an Indian should have both a wife and a friend". Labyrinth Mountain was named for the appearance of its complex contour lines on a map, and in association Sylvester named Minotaur and Theseus Lakes on the mountain. He named Mount David and Mount Jonathan, close to one another, and Mount Saul across Indian Creek valley from them, as in Biblical history Saul
being close to but forever separated from David and Jonathan
.
His whimsical and unusual names are among those most remarked upon. Overcoat Peak was given its name because when Sylvester climbed the mountain in 1897 to build a survey target cairn he left his overcoat, which had proven too small for comfort, buttoned around cairn. Dirtyface Peak was named for its discolored snow banks due to rapid spring melting. Dishpan Gap was named after he found an old rusty dishpan there. Fifth of July Mountain simply denotes the day Sylvester visited the area, but stands in contrast to a number of Fourth of July place names in the region. Kodak Peak was named for a Kodak camera his assistant Willett Ramsdell lost there. Pass-No-Pass was given its name because, in Sylvester's words, "the pass has neither road nor trail, and is suited only for driving sheep from one range to another".
Some of his names honor specific people, famous or obscure. For example, Mount Fernow
(the highest peak in the Entiat Mountains
) for Bernhard Fernow, Mount Maude
for Frederick Stanley Maude
, Harding Mountain for then-president Warren G. Harding
, Big Jim Mountains for James J. Hill
, Cool Creek for the prospector Thomas Cool, Carne Mountain for the English clergyman W. Stanely Carnes, Estes Butte for an old settler with mining claims there, Lake Jason for Forest Ranger Jason P. Williams; McCall Mountain for Lieut. J. K. McCall, U.S. Army, who was involved in Washington Territory's Indian Wars of 1858 (Sylvester renamed this peak because he felt its earlier name, Huckleberry Mountain, was too common); Phelps Creek and Phelps Ridge for a prospector. He even named Klone Peak after his dog Klone.
In naming lakes Sylvester began a tradition, continued by many others, of naming lakes for women. Examples include Lake Alice, for his wife; Lake Margaret and Lake Mary for the sisters of ranger Brune Canby, and Lake Florence for a friend of the Canby sisters; Lake Augusta, for his mother; Ethel Lake, for the wife of Forest Service Ranger Frank Lenzie; Lake Ida, for his sister-in-law; Josephine Lake, for the wife of ranger Jason Williams; Lake Edna, for the sweetheart of a forest ranger; Lake Flora, for the wife of ranger Otto Green; Lake Grace, for the wife of Charles Haydon with whom Sylvester was exploring; Lake Lorraine, for the wife of Assistant Supervisor C. J. Conover; and Loch Eileen, for the daughter of ranger Jason Williams.
In some cases his reason for giving a certain name is not obvious from the name alone. Candy Creek in the upper Entiat valley, was named for its sweet taste, but nearby Cool Creek was named for the prospector Thomas Cool. Cardinal Peak
was not named for the bird but for its "supremacy among adjacent mountains"—it is the highest peak of the Chelan Mountains
. He named Crook Mountain for the Army officer George Crook
who served in the Washington Cascades in 1858 and later in the Civil War as a general. In the case of Crook Mountain Sylvester did not name so much as rename—the peak had been known as Goat Mountain, but Sylvester thought there were "more Goat Mountains than goats in the Northwest". Sylvester did not have a horse die on Deadhorse Pass but rather used the term given by sheepmen who used the pass. Garland Peak and Garland Creek were named for a man who grazed sheep in the area. Grindstone Mountain was named in association with Grindstone Creek, in which Sylvester found a small grindstone
which had fallen from a pack horse fording the creek. Lake Sally Ann, near Dishpan Gap, appears to be another lake named for a specific woman, but Sylvester invented the name, saying "the name seemed to fit like a hand in a glove". Tinpan Mountain was given its name for no reason. Sylvester said "it was just a name for a place needing naming".
Other notable places named by Sylvester include Seven Fingered Jack
, Fortress Mountain, Tumwater Canyon, Jove Peak, Flower Dome, Dome Peak
, Ladies Pass, Lake Valhalla, Napeequa River
(previously known as the North Fork White River), Natopac Mountain, Pinnacle Mountain, Rampart Mountain, Rock Mountain, Round Mountain, Spanish Camp Creek, Wenatchee Pass and White Pass (named after the Wenatchee River
and White River).
, White Chuck Mountain, Columbia Peak
, Overcoat Peak, and Sahale Peak
. And in 1898, Snoqualmie Mountain
, Gardner Mountain, Star Peak, and Reynolds Peak
. These ascents were mainly for the purpose of setting up cairns, poles, and other survey targets for triangulation purposes. In some cases others may have made an earlier, unrecorded ascent. Fred Beckey
writes that Sylvester made the "apparent first ascent" of Sahale Peak, "probably the first" ascent of Columbia Peak, and that Snoqualmie Mountain may have been ascended for a railroad survey in 1867 and an earlier USGS survey party may have reached the summit earlier in the 1890s.
, but within a week he had died of his injuries.
in King County
was renamed from Forsythe Creek to Sylvester Creek by Professor A.H. Landes of the University of Washington in honor of Albert H. Sylvester.
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
, explorer, and forest supervisor in the Cascade Range
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Washington. He was a topographer for the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
(USGS) in the Snoqualmie Ranger District between 1897 and 1907. Then, from 1908 to 1931, he served the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
as the first forest supervisor of Wenatchee National Forest
Wenatchee National Forest
Wenatchee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington. With an area of 1,735,394 acres , it extends about 137 miles along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range of Washington, USA from Okanogan National Forest to Gifford Pinchot National Forest...
. His work involved the first detailed surveying and mapping of large portions of the Cascade Range in Washington, over the course of which he gave names to over 1,000 natural features. The surveying work often required placing cairns and other survey targets on top of mountains. He made the first ascents of a number of mountains in Washington. Over the course of his career he explored areas previously unknown to non-indigenous people. One such area, which Sylvester discovered, explored, and named, is The Enchantments
The Enchantments
The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States...
. In 1944, while leading a party of friends to one of his favorite parts of the mountains, Sylvester was mortally wounded when his horse panicked and lost his footing on a steep and rocky slope.
He once wrote that of all the many places he had explored and visited in the Cascades he thought the most beautiful was the Buck Creek area, near Buck Creek Pass at the crest of the Cascades in northeast Chelan County. Buck Creek flows southeast to the Chiwawa River
Chiwawa River
The Chiwawa River is a tributary of the Wenatchee River, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is completely contained within Chelan County.Much of the Chiwawa River's drainage basin is designated national forest and wilderness...
.
Place naming
Albert H. Sylvester named over 1,000—perhaps as many as 3,000 natural features in the Cascade Range, including Enchantment Lakes, Dishpan Gap, Lake Margaret, Lake Mary, Lake Florence, Lake Flora, Kodak Peak, the "Poets' Ridge" peaks Irving, Poe, Longfellow, Bryannt, and Whittier. Of the Enchantment Lakes area, now a very popular backpacking destination known as The EnchantmentsThe Enchantments
The Enchantments is an area comprising an upper and a lower basin, the lakes and tarns contained within them, and the peaks of the Stuart Range bounding the basins. The area is located entirely within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about southwest of Leavenworth, Washington in the United States...
, he wrote, "it was an enchanting scene. I named the group Enchantment Lakes."
During his career the region between Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 through the Cascade Range in the U.S. State of Washington. The elevation of the pass summit is , and is on the county line between Kittitas County and King County...
and the North Cascades
North Cascades
The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in Canada as the Cascade Mountains...
, where he did most of his work, was frequently updated with new maps showing the results of ongoing USGS and Forest Service surveying and exploring. This made it possible for Sylvester's place names
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
to become well established and used. His prolific place naming was due in part to Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania...
, the first Chief of the Forest Service. During the Pinchot era national forests
United States National Forest
National Forest is a classification of federal lands in the United States.National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Land management of these areas...
were relatively new and often largely unmapped and lacking in place names. In order to better protect the forests from wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
it was necessary to have names for natural features and detailed maps so that fires could be located by name and fire fighters sent to the right places. In regions like the Wenatchee National Forest there were a large number of unnamed features. Significant parts of the mountains were essentially unexplored, except by Native Americans and, in some areas, prospectors
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
, who tended to be secretive about their discoveries. Thus Sylvester found himself exploring and mapping a large region with relatively few established names and what amounted to a mandate to bestow names.
Sylvester described his experience: I didn't contact the habit [place naming] very intensely in the survey [USGS]... Coming into the Forest Service and finding that in fire protection work it was very desirable, even imperative, that the natural features capable of being named should have names as an aid in locating fire and sending in crews to combat them, I began place-naming more diligently.
Sylvester's place names are scattered over much of the central and northern Cascades in Washington. They are particularly dense in the Wenatchee Mountains
Wenatchee Mountains
The Wenatchee Mountains are a range of mountains in central Washington State, United States of America. A major subrange of the Cascade Range, extending east from the Cascade crest, the Wenatchee Mountains separate the drainage basins of the Yakima River from the Wenatchee River...
, Entiat Mountains
Entiat Mountains
The Entiat Mountains, or Entiat Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Washington. Located west of the Columbia River, north of the Wenatchee River, and south of the Entiat River, the range is part of the North Cascades section of the Cascade Range. The Entiat Range is relatively narrow...
, Chelan Mountains
Chelan Mountains
The Chelan Mountains, or Chelan Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Washington. Located west of the Columbia River, north of the Entiat River, and south of the Lake Chelan, the range is part of the North Cascades section of the Cascade Range...
, and the Glacier Peak
Glacier Peak
Glacier Peak is the most isolated of the five major stratovolcanoes of the Cascade Volcanic Arc in Washington...
area, today's Glacier Peak Wilderness
Glacier Peak Wilderness
The Glacier Peak Wilderness, created by the US Forest Service in 1960 by efforts of the , four years before the 1964 wilderness legislation of the Congress, is located within portions of Chelan County, Snohomish County, and Skagit Counties in the North Cascades of Washington...
. In some river basins, such as the Chiwawa River
Chiwawa River
The Chiwawa River is a tributary of the Wenatchee River, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is completely contained within Chelan County.Much of the Chiwawa River's drainage basin is designated national forest and wilderness...
, Little Wenatchee River
Little Wenatchee River
The Little Wenatchee River is the southern and smaller of the two rivers that flow into the west end of Lake Wenatchee. The northern and larger one is the White River. A large number of place names in the Little Wenatchee River basin, including the river's name itself, were given by Albert H...
, White River, and Entiat River
Entiat River
The Entiat River is a tributary of the Columbia River, joining the Columbia near Entiat. The USGS lists two variant names for the Entiat River: En-ti-at-kwa River and Entiatqua River. En-ti-at-kwa is noted as being the original "Indian name", meaning "rapid water"...
basins, nearly every stream and peak was named by Sylvester.
His naming was often creative, patterned, sometimes practical and descriptive, sometimes whimsical. Examples of patterned place naming include Aurora Creek and Borealis Ridge, Choral and Anthem Creeks ("singing streams"), all in the upper Entiat valley; the three "baking powder creeks", Royal, Crescent, and Schilling Creeks, named for then-popular brands of baking powder; the "American poets' peaks Bryant Peak (for William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...
), Irving Peak (for Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
), Longfellow Mountain (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
), Poe Mountain (for Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
), and Whittier Peak (for John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets...
). He named Indian Pass and Indian Creek for the ancient Indian trail over the pass, and in association he named nearby Indian Head Peak and Papoose Creek, a tributary of Indian Creek. Near Indian Creek he named Kloochman Creek and Tillicum Creek, Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...
terms for wife and friend, "figuring that an Indian should have both a wife and a friend". Labyrinth Mountain was named for the appearance of its complex contour lines on a map, and in association Sylvester named Minotaur and Theseus Lakes on the mountain. He named Mount David and Mount Jonathan, close to one another, and Mount Saul across Indian Creek valley from them, as in Biblical history Saul
Saul
-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...
being close to but forever separated from David and Jonathan
David and Jonathan
David and Jonathan were heroic figures of the Kingdom of Israel, whose covenant was recorded favourably in the books of Samuel. Jonathan was the son of Saul, king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and David was the son of Jesse of Bethlehem and Jonathan's presumed rival for the crown...
.
His whimsical and unusual names are among those most remarked upon. Overcoat Peak was given its name because when Sylvester climbed the mountain in 1897 to build a survey target cairn he left his overcoat, which had proven too small for comfort, buttoned around cairn. Dirtyface Peak was named for its discolored snow banks due to rapid spring melting. Dishpan Gap was named after he found an old rusty dishpan there. Fifth of July Mountain simply denotes the day Sylvester visited the area, but stands in contrast to a number of Fourth of July place names in the region. Kodak Peak was named for a Kodak camera his assistant Willett Ramsdell lost there. Pass-No-Pass was given its name because, in Sylvester's words, "the pass has neither road nor trail, and is suited only for driving sheep from one range to another".
Some of his names honor specific people, famous or obscure. For example, Mount Fernow
Mount Fernow
Mount Fernow is a tall peak in the North Cascades in the U.S. state of Washington and within the Glacier Peak Wilderness of the Wenatchee National Forest. At in elevation it is the eighth highest peak in Washington and the state's third highest non-volcanic peak. It is also the highest peak of the...
(the highest peak in the Entiat Mountains
Entiat Mountains
The Entiat Mountains, or Entiat Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Washington. Located west of the Columbia River, north of the Wenatchee River, and south of the Entiat River, the range is part of the North Cascades section of the Cascade Range. The Entiat Range is relatively narrow...
) for Bernhard Fernow, Mount Maude
Mount Maude
Mount Maude is a peak in the Entiat Mountains, a subrange of the North Cascades, in Washington state, USA. It is in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, at the headwaters of the Entiat River. The peak was given its name by Albert H. Sylvester in honor of Frederick Stanley Maude....
for Frederick Stanley Maude
Frederick Stanley Maude
Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude KCB, CMG, DSO was a British commander, most famous for his efforts in Mesopotamia during World War I and for conquering Baghdad in 1917.-Family:...
, Harding Mountain for then-president Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, Big Jim Mountains for James J. Hill
James J. Hill
James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...
, Cool Creek for the prospector Thomas Cool, Carne Mountain for the English clergyman W. Stanely Carnes, Estes Butte for an old settler with mining claims there, Lake Jason for Forest Ranger Jason P. Williams; McCall Mountain for Lieut. J. K. McCall, U.S. Army, who was involved in Washington Territory's Indian Wars of 1858 (Sylvester renamed this peak because he felt its earlier name, Huckleberry Mountain, was too common); Phelps Creek and Phelps Ridge for a prospector. He even named Klone Peak after his dog Klone.
In naming lakes Sylvester began a tradition, continued by many others, of naming lakes for women. Examples include Lake Alice, for his wife; Lake Margaret and Lake Mary for the sisters of ranger Brune Canby, and Lake Florence for a friend of the Canby sisters; Lake Augusta, for his mother; Ethel Lake, for the wife of Forest Service Ranger Frank Lenzie; Lake Ida, for his sister-in-law; Josephine Lake, for the wife of ranger Jason Williams; Lake Edna, for the sweetheart of a forest ranger; Lake Flora, for the wife of ranger Otto Green; Lake Grace, for the wife of Charles Haydon with whom Sylvester was exploring; Lake Lorraine, for the wife of Assistant Supervisor C. J. Conover; and Loch Eileen, for the daughter of ranger Jason Williams.
In some cases his reason for giving a certain name is not obvious from the name alone. Candy Creek in the upper Entiat valley, was named for its sweet taste, but nearby Cool Creek was named for the prospector Thomas Cool. Cardinal Peak
Cardinal Peak
Cardinal Peak is the highest peak of the Chelan Mountains, a subrange of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Wenatchee National Forest at the head of the Entiat River drainage basin, in Chelan County. To the west and north, streams flow into Lake Chelan. Cardinal...
was not named for the bird but for its "supremacy among adjacent mountains"—it is the highest peak of the Chelan Mountains
Chelan Mountains
The Chelan Mountains, or Chelan Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Washington. Located west of the Columbia River, north of the Entiat River, and south of the Lake Chelan, the range is part of the North Cascades section of the Cascade Range...
. He named Crook Mountain for the Army officer George Crook
George Crook
George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.-Early life:...
who served in the Washington Cascades in 1858 and later in the Civil War as a general. In the case of Crook Mountain Sylvester did not name so much as rename—the peak had been known as Goat Mountain, but Sylvester thought there were "more Goat Mountains than goats in the Northwest". Sylvester did not have a horse die on Deadhorse Pass but rather used the term given by sheepmen who used the pass. Garland Peak and Garland Creek were named for a man who grazed sheep in the area. Grindstone Mountain was named in association with Grindstone Creek, in which Sylvester found a small grindstone
Grindstone (tool)
A grindstone is a round sharpening stone used for grinding or sharpening ferrous tools. They are usually made from sandstone.Grindstone machines usually have pedals in which to speed and slow the stone to sharpen metal to the point of perfection....
which had fallen from a pack horse fording the creek. Lake Sally Ann, near Dishpan Gap, appears to be another lake named for a specific woman, but Sylvester invented the name, saying "the name seemed to fit like a hand in a glove". Tinpan Mountain was given its name for no reason. Sylvester said "it was just a name for a place needing naming".
Other notable places named by Sylvester include Seven Fingered Jack
Seven Fingered Jack
Seven Fingered Jack is a mountain in the North Cascades in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located at the north end of the Entiat Mountains, a sub-range of the Cascade Range. It is part of a three-peak group called the Entiat Cirque which includes Mount Maude and Mount Fernow. Seven Fingered...
, Fortress Mountain, Tumwater Canyon, Jove Peak, Flower Dome, Dome Peak
Dome Peak
Dome Peak is a high, massive, glaciated mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Washington's North Cascades. The remote location of Dome Peak, combined with its height, make it a less common destination for Cascade Range mountaineers. Dome Peak is at the southern end of the Ptarmigan Traverse...
, Ladies Pass, Lake Valhalla, Napeequa River
Napeequa River
The Napeequa River is a long river in the U.S. state of Washington on the east side of the Cascade Range. It rises in northwest Chelan County and flows southwest into the White River near Twin Lakes. The White River flows into Lake Wenatchee. The Napeequa River and its valley are notable for their...
(previously known as the North Fork White River), Natopac Mountain, Pinnacle Mountain, Rampart Mountain, Rock Mountain, Round Mountain, Spanish Camp Creek, Wenatchee Pass and White Pass (named after the Wenatchee River
Wenatchee River
The Wenatchee River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington, originating at Lake Wenatchee and flowing southeast for , emptying into the Columbia River immediately north of Wenatchee, Washington...
and White River).
Mountaineering
Albert H. Sylvester climbed many mountains in the Cascades, often for surveying purposes. Many of his climbs were first ascents. In 1897 and 1898, working as a surveyor for the USGS, Sylvester made a number of first ascents. These included, in 1897, Mount BaringMount Baring
Baring Mountain, or Mount Baring, is a peak in the central part of the Cascade Range of Washington, United States. It lies about 2 miles northeast of the Skykomish River and US Highway 2, at the western edge of the Cascades in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest...
, White Chuck Mountain, Columbia Peak
Columbia Peak
Columbia Peak is a mountain peak in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in the U.S. state of Washington. Columbia Peak rises to . Together with Monte Cristo Peak and Kyes Peak it forms a basin that contains Columbia Glacier and Blanca Lake....
, Overcoat Peak, and Sahale Peak
Sahale Mountain
Sahale Mountain is a jagged, glaciated mountain, in North Cascades National Park, in northern Washington state. The summit of Sahale Mountain is referred to as Sahale Peak. It is just south of its higher neighbor, Boston Peak, and the saddle between the two is only lower than Sahale's summit...
. And in 1898, Snoqualmie Mountain
Snoqualmie Mountain
Snoqualmie Mountain is the tallest peak in the immediate vicinity of Snoqualmie Pass in the North Cascade Range of Washington state, U.S. Its shape is often described as "amorphous" or "blob-like", although it does display a steep north face dropping down to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River...
, Gardner Mountain, Star Peak, and Reynolds Peak
Reynolds Peak
Reynolds Peak is a prominent peak rising 6 nautical miles northwest of Eld Peak on the west side of Matusevich Glacier. Two conical peaks were sighted in the area from the Peacock on January 16, 1840 by Passed Midshipmen William Reynolds and Henry Eld of the United States Exploring Expedition...
. These ascents were mainly for the purpose of setting up cairns, poles, and other survey targets for triangulation purposes. In some cases others may have made an earlier, unrecorded ascent. Fred Beckey
Fred Beckey
Fred Beckey is an American mountaineer and author, who has made hundreds of first ascents, more than any other North American climber.-Early years:...
writes that Sylvester made the "apparent first ascent" of Sahale Peak, "probably the first" ascent of Columbia Peak, and that Snoqualmie Mountain may have been ascended for a railroad survey in 1867 and an earlier USGS survey party may have reached the summit earlier in the 1890s.
Death
In September 1944 Sylvester took three friends on a trip into the mountains. They had two pack horses in addition to a saddle horse for each traveler. Their trip went up Chiwaukum Creek to Lake Chiwaukum, then on to Larch Lake, Ewing Basin, and Cup Lake. From Cup Lake the trail grew rough and steep. They continued over Deadhorse Pass and south to the vicinity of Snowgrass Mountain. While pausing at a high point between Lake Mary and Lake Florence Sylvester's horse panicked and ran off the trail bucking. One of the pack horses was lashed to the horn of Sylvester's saddle and the rope caught his leg, holding him in the saddle as both horses fell down a steep and rocky slope. The accident left Sylvester seriously injured. Rescuers carried him out of the mountains. He was taken to a hospital in WenatcheeWenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925...
, but within a week he had died of his injuries.
Legacy
In addition to the many place names established by Sylvester there are places named for him. After his tragic death friends requested that Snowgrass Mountain be renamed for Sylvester but the request was denied. Sylvester Lake, southwest of the mountain, was the alternate idea. The lake is located at the head of Grindstone Creek near Alice Lake, which Sylvester had named for his wife. A creek on the upper Green RiverGreen River (Washington)
The Green River is a long river in the state of Washington in the United States, arising on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains south of I-90....
in King County
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
was renamed from Forsythe Creek to Sylvester Creek by Professor A.H. Landes of the University of Washington in honor of Albert H. Sylvester.