History of Electric Peak
　

        An interesting Yellowstone name was given to a magnificent mountain peak in the northern area of the park. As I have visited the park, I have often wondered about this name. It kind of has modern connotations or ramifications to the world's oldest national park. The Hayden Survey party named this peak in 1872. Here is their story:

        The party ascended the peak on 26 July 1872. The party consisted of Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, assistant topographer Alexander E. Brown, and astronomer Henry Gannett. According to Henry Gannett's record: "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 prickling 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, prickling 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 electricity.

        Source: Ferdinand V. Hayden, Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories...Being a Report of Progress of the Exploration for the year 1872 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873), pp. 120-121.
　

Electric Peak and YellowStone River Webcam