Home
Map
Browse Map
Explore away
Explore Map Collection
Check out our basemaps
Print a Map
Plus
Generate a high-quality PDF
Field Guide
Field Guide
Discover local flora, fauna, geology, and more
Local Flora & Fauna
Learn the ecology of your area
Local Geology
Learn the geologic formation at your feet
Get Started
or
Sign In
Welcome
Sign up to start exploring the one-of-a-kind Natural Atlas Topo map
Continue with Apple
Or
Sign up with Email
Already have an account?
Sign In
MAP
Topo
Waterfalls
Rock Formations
Campgrounds
Trails
Boat Launches
National Parks
State Parks
Scenic Spots
Measure
You must upgrade to measure routes
Start Free Trial
0 ft
Max
0 ft
Copyright
© Natural Atlas
| Roads, Buildings
© OSM Contributors
|
Data Sources
Topo
Ecoregions
Public Lands
...
BASEMAPS
Default Weather
Temperature
Smoke
...
WEATHER
Electric Peak
Striking Peak Above Mammoth
Peak
in
Yellowstone NP
,
Rocky Mountains
near
Gardiner
,
MT
Print Map
Generate High-Quality PDF
Electric Peak is a notable geologic and historic landmark in Yellowstone National Park. The highest peak in the Gallatin Range provides both a snapshot of the park’s geological past and for an 1872 USGS survey crew a hair raising near death experience.
The mountain was shaped by glacial ice dating back about 2.6 million years ago; volcanic fire and ash around 50 million years ago; and back 350 million years ago billions of tiny marine creatures thrived in an ancient ocean, died, accumulated and metamorphosed into the pale gray sedimentary Madison Limestone that makes up most of the mountain.
Electric Peak was named from a July 26, 1872 lightning incident, that involved Henry Gannet and two other men of his USGS survey crew:
We were ascending a mountain near the Gardiner’s River Springs, called on the map Electric Peak. I quote from my notes written on the following day: A thunder-shower was approaching as we neared the summit of the mountain. I was above the others of the party, and, when about fifty feet below the summit, the electric current began to pass through my body. At first I felt nothing, but heard a crackling noise, similar to a rapid discharge of sparks from a friction machine. Immediately after, I began to feel a tingling or pricking sensation in my head and the ends of my fingers, which, as well as the noise, increased rapidly, until, when I reached the top, the noise, which had not changed its character, was deafening, and my hair stood completely on end, while the tingling, pricking sensation was absolutely painful. Taking off my hat partially relieved it. I started down again, and met the others twenty-five or thirty feet below the summit. They were affected similarly, but in a less degree. One of them attempted to go to the top, but had proceeded but a few feet when he received quite a severe shock, which felled him as if he had stumbled. We then returned down the mountain about three hundred feet, and to this point we still heard and felt the electricity. (Gannett per page 807, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden)
— Gannett
Historical Photographs
Electric Peak, viewed from Sepulchre Mountain. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. ca. 1890. Joseph Paxson Iddings (USGS)
Electric Peak. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. ca. 1890. Joseph Paxson Iddings (USGS)
Sources
Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer. “Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, Embracing Portions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, Being a Report of Progress of the Explorations for the Year 1872.” Report. Annual Report. Washington D.C., 1873. USGS Publications Warehouse.
https://doi.org/10.3133/70038930
.
On the Web
On Wikipedia
Electric Peak is the tallest mountain in the Gallatin Range of southern Montana, close to the Wyoming border and rises to an altitude of 10,969 feet (3,343 m). The peak has some of the greatest physical relief in Yellowstone National Park, rising 3,389 ft (1,033 m) above its base. Electric Peak was named during the first ascent in 1872 by the United States Geological Survey. Members of the Hayden Survey led by Henry Gannett experienced electrical discharges from their hands and hair after a lightning event on the summit.
Read More on Wikipedia
Taxonomy
Classified As
Peak
Geologic Formations
Cody and Frontier Formations (MTKcof;0)
Geologic Formation
Cody Formation
Geologic Formation
Frontier Formation
Geologic Formation
Search
Search the outdoors
Map
Plans
Field Guide
Community
My Profile
My Trips
0
My Field Notes
0
Notifications
More