Pikes Peak: Masonic Mountain
Pikes Peak is a special location in which its mysterious links are often overlooked. Most recently, the mystical mountain of Pikes Peak was the focus of the program MonsterQuest on March 11th. Repeats will be forthcoming in future weeks. It is instructive to examine the background on the peak's name. Pikes Peak (originally Pike's Peak, see below) is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, 10 miles (16 km) west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. The mountain was named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. (January 5, 1778 – April 27, 1813), an American soldier, explorer, and Freemason, whose Pike expedition, often compared to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. Pike (pictured above) was born in Lamberton, New Jersey, now a part of Trenton. His father, also named Zebulon Pike, was an officer in the Continental Army under General George Washington and served in the United States Army after the en...