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Mount Stevenson

Mountain in Yellowstone NP, Rocky Mountains near Lake, WY

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Ferdinand Hayden gave the name of his loyal friend and assistant “Stevenson” to a mountain and an island in Yellowstone. (Hayden, 1872, 5)

My principal assistant, Mr. James Stevenson, labored; with his usual efficiency and fidelity throughout the entire trip. In honor of his great services not only during the past season, but for over twelve years of unremitting toil as my assistant, oftentimes without pecuniary reward, and with little of the scientific recognition that usually comes to the original explorer, I have desired that one of the principal islands of the lake and one of the noble peaks reflected in its clear waters should bear his name forever. - Hayden

— Hayden

In 1853, James “Jim” Stevenson, age 13, met Dr. Ferdinand Hayden in the White River Badlands near Fort Pierre, Dakota Territory. It was a turning point for both men. Hayden, just out of medical school, turned his attention to geology. Stevenson would become a self taught ethnologist, anthropologist, geologist, a naturalist, and a lifelong friend of Hayden. (Whittlesey 2006, 181-82)

Stevenson gained another skill set that proved invaluable to Hayden. He accompanied Lt. G.K. Warren’s survey to the Black Hills of Dakota and the Yellowstone River in 1856, where a 16-year-old Stevenson met guide Jim Bridger now in his 50s. Bridger undoubtedly served as a role model, influencing Stevenson with mountain stories and invaluable skills in guiding, organizing, and directing expeditions. Jim Stevenson would meet both Bridger and Hayden again during Capt. William F. Raynolds survey of 1859-60 that covered northern Wyoming and southern Montana. This survey included the Tetons, but winter snows denied the expedition access to Yellowstone. (Haines 1974, 143-44, 178-49; Nottage 2003)

During the Civil War (1861-65) both Hayden and Stevenson served for the Union. Hayden was a surgeon and Stevenson a private, who rose to lieutenant. After the war, the two men rekindled their scientific adventures and friendship in the west. “In 1866, James Stevenson accompanied Hayden into the badlands of the Dakota Territory in a search for fossils, and from that time on he was the assistant of the great geologist in every venture until the Hayden Survey was merged with those of King and Powell to form the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879.” (Haines 1974, 143-44, 178-49)

First Peoples Mountain (center) rises between Top Notch Peak (foreground) and Mt. Stevenson (back right) seen from Avalanche Peak

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Camp scene. James Stromson(Stevenson?) U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (Hayden Survey).

Sources

Haines, Aubrey L. “Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment,” 1974. http://npshistory.com/handbooks/historical/yell/haines/index.htm.

Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer. “Fifth Annual Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana and Portions of Adjacent Territories: Being a Fifth Annual Report of Progress.” 1871 Survey Report. Annual Report. Washington D.C., 1872. USGS Publications Warehouse. https://doi.org/10.3133/70038938.

Nottage, James H. “Rivers, Mountains and Plains: The Raynolds Expedition of 1859-1860.” WyoHistory.org, May 31, 2023. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/rivers-mountains-and-plains-raynolds-expedition-1859-1860.