Who climbed Katahdin first

[Heald]

The question was raised during a discussion about Henry Thoreau this evening as to WHO were the first to ever climb to the top of Katahdin.

I can't find the thread here that discusses this topic, can anyone direct me?

[ScottP]

Katahdin is referred to 60 years after Field’s climb of Agiokochuk (Mount Washington) in the writings of John Gyles, a teenage colonist who was captured near Portland, Maine in 1689 by the Abenaki. While in the company of Abenaki hunting parties, he traveled up and down several Maine rivers including both branches of the Penobscot, passing close to “Teddon”. He remarked that it was higher than the White Hills above the Saco River.
Among some Native Americans, Katahdin was believed to be the home of the storm god Pamola, and thus an area to be avoided.^[7]
The first recorded climb of "Catahrdin" was by Massachusetts surveyor Charles Turner, Jr. in August 1804.^[8] In the 1840s Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin, which he spelled "Ktaadn"; his ascent is recorded in a well-known chapter of The Maine Woods. A few years later Theodore Winthrop wrote about his visit in Life in the Open Air. Painters Frederic Edwin Church and Marsden Hartley are well-known artists who created landscapes of Katahdin. On Nov. 30 2011, Christie's auctioned Church's 1860 painting Twilight(Katahdin) for $3.1 million.
In the 1930s Governor Percival Baxter began to acquire land and finally deeded more than 200,000 acres (809 km²) to the State of Maine for a park, named Baxter State Park after him. The summit was officially recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names as "Baxter Peak" in 1931.
Because "Katahdin" means "Greatest Mountain", "Mount Katahdin" means "Mount Greatest Mountain", which local people maintain is incorrect,^[9] however the official name is Mount Katahdin as decided by the US Board on Geographic Names in 1893.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_K...#Human_history

hope this helps

[Lone Wolf]

The question was raised during a discussion about Henry Thoreau this evening as to WHO were the first to ever climb to the top of Katahdin.

I can't find the thread here that discusses this topic, can anyone direct me?

some descendant of keith shaw by god, was the first! thoreau was a quitter and crappy writer to boot

[Spokes]

I always liked Earl Shaffers quote about the Greatest Mountain:

"The glory of Katahdin lies in its dual beauty: to look at, and to look from."

[Heald]

some descendant of keith shaw by god, was the first! thoreau was a quitter and crappy writer to boot

Keith would've slapped Thereau on the back and said "stick with me buddy, I'll get us to the top of this friggin thing".

[mudhead]

My money is on some rebellious Indian who had been told to stay away.

[Theosus]

My money is on some rebellious Indian who had been told to stay away.

Talks Back to Squaws

[mudhead]

Talks Back to Squaws

Especially him. Heard he suffered from the dreaded ailment Lakkanooki.

[TJ aka Teej]

It's a myth that First Peoples didn't climb mountains because they were fearful of spirits and so forth. Such tales appear nowhere in traditional tales, and as Penobscot oral historian Joe Neptune says - "Why do you think Europeans always hired Indian guides? Because they didn't know the way up?"

[Lone Wolf]

It's a myth that First Peoples didn't climb mountains

that a church or a bank?

[Northern Lights]

that a church or a bank?

No, it's the politically correct term for people of Aboriginal descent. In Canada we are referred to as First Nations.

[SassyWindsor]

I'll go with a Penobscot Indian. After-all, these guys named the mountain Katahdin (Indian for "Great Mountain")

[lemon b]

My guess would be some Micmac came down from the North and went up to check out the view.

[ScottP]

It's a myth that First Peoples didn't climb mountains because they were fearful of spirits and so forth. Such tales appear nowhere in traditional tales, and as Penobscot oral historian Joe Neptune says - "Why do you think Europeans always hired Indian guides? Because they didn't know the way up?"

fix up the Wikipedia then

[weary]

some descendant of keith shaw by god, was the first! thoreau was a quitter and crappy writer to boot

I know of no evidence that Keith was much into climbing, certainly not in the final decades of his life. Thoreau attempted to climb Katahdin just once. He started late in the day to climb a mountain with no trails, but managed to reach the tableland. Quite a remarkable feat, as were his writings that influenced all the pioneer land protectors that followed him -- folks like Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir.

Thoreau's writings even influenced the founding of the Phippsburg Land Trust, which now owns 800 plus acres in a small coastal town in Maine. Henry argued in his essay "Walking" that every town should have a thousand acre preserve, where people could walk without the intrusions of civilization. My land trust is still nearly 200 acres shy of our original goal, but others in town have taken up the effort. This tiny town, which until a couple of decades ago was one of the poorest in coastal Maine, now has 5,000 acres of protected land -- including 2,000 acres an old guy donated a couple of years ago to the Nature Conservancy.

[WalkinHome]

Katahdin is referred to 60 years after Field’s climb of Agiokochuk (Mount Washington) in the writings of John Gyles, a teenage colonist who was captured near Portland, Maine in 1689 by the Abenaki. While in the company of Abenaki hunting parties, he traveled up and down several Maine rivers including both branches of the Penobscot, passing close to “Teddon”. He remarked that it was higher than the White Hills above the Saco River.
Among some Native Americans, Katahdin was believed to be the home of the storm god Pamola, and thus an area to be avoided.^[7]
The first recorded climb of "Catahrdin" was by Massachusetts surveyor Charles Turner, Jr. in August 1804.^[8] In the 1840s Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin, which he spelled "Ktaadn"; his ascent is recorded in a well-known chapter of The Maine Woods. A few years later Theodore Winthrop wrote about his visit in Life in the Open Air. Painters Frederic Edwin Church and Marsden Hartley are well-known artists who created landscapes of Katahdin. On Nov. 30 2011, Christie's auctioned Church's 1860 painting Twilight(Katahdin) for $3.1 million.
In the 1930s Governor Percival Baxter began to acquire land and finally deeded more than 200,000 acres (809 km²) to the State of Maine for a park, named Baxter State Park after him. The summit was officially recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names as "Baxter Peak" in 1931.
Because "Katahdin" means "Greatest Mountain", "Mount Katahdin" means "Mount Greatest Mountain", which local people maintain is incorrect,^[9] however the official name is Mount Katahdin as decided by the US Board on Geographic Names in 1893.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_K...#Human_history

hope this helps

This is an excerpt from Mr. Turner's recollection in 1804: "They (the natives) have a tradition, that no person, i.e., native who has attempted to ascend it, has lived to return. They allege, that many moons ago, seven Indians resolutely ascended the mountain, and that they were never heard of afterwards, having been undoubtably killed by Pamola in the mountain. The two Indians, whom we hired to pilot and assist us in ascending the mountain, cautioned us not to proceed if we should hear any uncommon noise; and when we came to the cold part of the mountain, they refused to proceed ahead - however, when they found that we were determined to proceed, even without them, they again went forward courageously, and seemed ambitious to be the first on the summit."

[Tipi Walter]

This is an excerpt from Mr. Turner's recollection in 1804: "They (the natives) have a tradition, that no person, i.e., native who has attempted to ascend it, has lived to return. They allege, that many moons ago, seven Indians resolutely ascended the mountain, and that they were never heard of afterwards, having been undoubtably killed by Pamola in the mountain. The two Indians, whom we hired to pilot and assist us in ascending the mountain, cautioned us not to proceed if we should hear any uncommon noise; and when we came to the cold part of the mountain, they refused to proceed ahead - however, when they found that we were determined to proceed, even without them, they again went forward courageously, and seemed ambitious to be the first on the summit."

It must be remembered that this is recent history. The Indians tramped around these woods for the last 20,000 years, and there's no clear recollection which tribe hung out near Katahdin at that time. Maybe some inquisitive neanderthals or hominad erectus or cro magnons or whatever figured they'd pull a winter on top during the last Ice Age. Who knows?