When fifth-generation Coloradan Jeri Norgren learned that the Denver Fortnightly Club was responsible for helping get Mount Evans’ name changed from Mount Rosalie, she started researching more of the history behind the names of Colorado’s iconic mountains.
“I was doing it for fun,” Norgren said. But then she found that much of the full history of the peaks’ names has never been documented. “And I decided there needs to be a book.”
She continued her research, and eventually contacted Colorado photographer and outdoors enthusiast John Fielder to inquire about getting involved with the book.
The result of the collaborative effort is called “Colorado’s Highest: The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks.”
The book, which came out in September, contains Norgren’s essays on how the names were chosen for the 58 highest mountains in Colorado; Fielder’s photographs of the fourteeners, including many that have never before been published; color transparencies of Jefferson County’s Robert L. Wogrin’s oil paintings; and historical sketches made in the 1870s by the artists of the Hayden Survey.
“People who enjoy Colorado history will love this book,” Fielder said.
In addition to the stories about who first climbed the fourteeners, there is information about the early days of mining, Colorado’s Native Americans and much more, states a news release.
“The more I researched, the more questions I had that I wanted to find the answers to,” Norgren said. She added the content in the book is not a re-telling of the snippets of the history that you learn in school. “You learn about what life was like climbing these peaks in Colorado more than 150 years ago.”
Fielder enjoyed looking back at the photos he has taken of Colorado’s outdoors — some of which were taken about 30 years ago — because it brought back the sensuous experiences of nature he felt at the time of being there and photographing the landscapes, he said.
“The best part of my life is being able to share the most remote and sublime mountain places with people far and wide,” Fielder said. “I love sharing how beautiful Colorado is.”
