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Newt
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PostFri Jul 18, 2003 3:24 pm 
Anyone know how Three Fingers got it's name? Always looks like 4 to me. Thanks, NN

It's pretty safe to say that if we take all of man kinds accumulated knowledge, we still don't know everything. So, I hope you understand why I don't believe you know everything. But then again, maybe you do.
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Dufus
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PostFri Jul 18, 2003 4:17 pm 
Old One-Eyed Jake used to wander the hills and dales of the Cascades years ago. He had named several peaks. One day he lost several fingers on the west side of the mountains whilst blasting off the top of the peak with Harry Bedal for the lookout site (which was one four-two-itous event). After his hand healed, he went to the Entiat Range and named the 9000+ feet high peak next to his wife's namesake Maude (also a "niner"), calling it Seven Fingered Jack. Upon returning to the west side, he convinced AH Sylvester and Harry Bedal to name the peak Three Fingers. This is despite the fact that he'd named the Oregon volcano Three Fingered Jack already. It's a little known fact that he also named other summits for body parts. A few miles east, he smashed his thumb chipping rock in the Double Eagle mine, next to a Devils club patch. From this event arose the name Devils Thumb. Further south, near Snoqualmie Pass, he had a raging toothache. A hunter happened by and helped pull the tooth. Thus came the name of The Tooth. A bit further in his career, he made acquaintance with some women of the Red Light district near the Dutch Miller mining district. He named Bare Breast after them, but it was changed by the prudish USGS cartogrophers to Bears Breast. He named several faces, including the north face of Baring (similar story to above), the west face of Mt Thigh, the east face of Perthith, and the south face of Vethper. He also named quite a few butts, like McClellens Butt, Black Butt, and his favorite, Spectacular Butt. Cartographers renamed those to buttes in the 1900-1913 period while creating the USGS 30 minute series of topographic maps. Several glacial tongues were also named, but have been lost when the glaciers melted back. The Sahale Shoulder was named during an expedition to find a route through the Cascades. Fortunately, the road was built a few miles north through Rainy Pass. Come to think of it, he named several Pisses, including Cascade Piss, Little Giant Piss, and Suiattle Piss. Cartographers renamed those also -- losing a precious bit of historic naming convention. He named a three-peak summit near Eldorado, calling it The Three Dicks, but cartographers renamed it The Triad. Few know of his more obscure names, never catalogued by the cartographers. These include Belly Button Lake, Elbow Ridge, Cheek Creek, and Knee Knob. One-eyed Jake was one heck of a Cascades explorer. One can only hope that someday his work will be documented in a made-for-TV movie starring Mike Collins as Jake, Stefan as his side kick Festus, and Quark as the object of their love triangle.

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JimK
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PostFri Jul 18, 2003 4:51 pm 
I come here to learn the truth about NW history. Thank goodness you guys never let me down. It there anything you don't know??

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Third Finger
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PostFri Jul 18, 2003 11:22 pm 
Three Fingers has three pretty distinct summits. The fourth you see must be some minor bumpette. The lookout summit used to be higher, before Harry Bedal et al blasted off the top.

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Newt
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PostSun Jul 20, 2003 5:43 pm 
Thanks, but I'm a little skeptical of the history of the naming. Can't put my finger on it tho you may be correct. NN

It's pretty safe to say that if we take all of man kinds accumulated knowledge, we still don't know everything. So, I hope you understand why I don't believe you know everything. But then again, maybe you do.
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Tom Thumb
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PostSun Jul 20, 2003 10:19 pm 
Well there is a new theory. While up on Devils Thumb today I came up with this new theory. You can see Three Fingers from there. See, with the two of 'em you have most of a hand, so I think they were named as a set. The final finger, Pinkie Peak, was lost after a dynamite accident during the years 1894-6. Not much is known, nor the exact date, except that Juleen has some photos of Pinkie, available at the Everest Pubic Liberry.

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Monty Index
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PostSun Jul 20, 2003 10:47 pm 
An alternate theory that just won't go away, is that there was a local character named Whiskey Rich who came through in a wagon and started selling whiskey off the tailgate. In those days it was two-bits for a four finger jigger of whiskey. Well, Rich wasn't making money fast enough so he cut off one of his fingers and told his customers that now he could only serve 3 fingers since his fourth was missing. They still had to pay the same price since he couldn't reduce it to one-bit as there is no such thing as one-bit, or so he claimed. He was able to move to Beverly Hills a couple years later with his new found wealth. Those staying behind could only shake there heads and marvel at the savvy entrepreneur, but a few weeks later a mathematician from Harvard road into town on a swayback horse named Dobbin. He told the townsfolk that while there was no such thing as one-bit, there was such a thing as pennies, nickels, and dimes, and that they the hardworking people had been taken to the cleaners. As a reminder so they would not forget, he named the local prominence Three Fingers and another mountain near the town of Silverton where whiskey was still served honestly, Big Four.

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Chief Bigpique
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PostMon Jul 21, 2003 9:07 am 
The correct name for the mountain is Queest-Alb. We have called it thus for many moons times many moons.

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McPilchuck
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PostWed Jul 23, 2003 7:56 pm 
I am not sure about who exactly named the mountain Three Fingers (as seen from different angles) four as seen from others mainly western exposure. The Native American or Salish name is the correct one. But if it's intimate exposure in the trackless void (high or low) I've spent a lifetime there, few know it better...here are some of the reads and photos of Three Fingers and the Boulder River Wilderness... http://www.alpinequest.com/boulderpage.htm (four fingers) http://www.alpinequest.com/4fingers.jpg McPil

in the granite high-wild alpine land . . . www.alpinequest.com
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MooseAndSquirrel
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PostWed Jul 23, 2003 9:04 pm 
It was named after Three Fingered Jacks in Winthrop- everybody knows that. shakehead.gif

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Newt
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PostThu Jul 24, 2003 3:53 am 
Thanks McPil, good reads and photos as always. Do you have the book about 3 Fingers? I'm going to check it out as it may tell.
MooseAndSquirrel wrote:
It was named after Three Fingered Jacks in Winthrop- everybody knows that. shakehead.gif
Well, I guess that there is as least one person here that didn't know that. Seems like my right leg is getting longer. Can we work on the left now? Thanks, NN

It's pretty safe to say that if we take all of man kinds accumulated knowledge, we still don't know everything. So, I hope you understand why I don't believe you know everything. But then again, maybe you do.
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McPilchuck
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PostThu Jul 24, 2003 6:17 pm 
Newt, yes I have the book by Mac, I got directly from his Dad just after it was published, but its been many years since I read it again, sits on my desk here at the house. Here's another pics of Three Fingers (sunrise) above Gerkman Creek on the Boulder River...way off trail. http://www.alpinequest.com/3fngrs.jpg McPil

in the granite high-wild alpine land . . . www.alpinequest.com
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polarbear-
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PostThu Jul 24, 2003 7:47 pm 
Still no info on the name, but here is an interesting tidbit. Three Fingers Mountain (6,867 feet) is one of the two oldest historical sites in the entire Cascade Range. It was discovered by Manuel Quimper in 1790. link Here is an interesting chart Quimper had and diary writings about the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Note that Mt. Baker was originally named 'La Gran Montagna Carmelita' by Manuel Quimper in 1790, because it reminded him of the flowing white robes of the Carmelites. It was renamed in 1972 by George Vancouver. My guess is Manuel named 3 fingers Tres Dedos. More historical exploration stuff.

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Mike Collins
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PostFri Jul 25, 2003 8:36 am 
Thanks Polarbear for your historical slant...Manuel Quimper did indeed explore the Strait of Juan de Fuca and quite possibly he was the first European discoverer of Three Fingers. His voyage produced several maps of which copies are extant. I am looking at a copy of one now which shows a peak in the neighborhood of "Three Fingers" which has three sharp summits to it. These and the nearby peaks are identified as "Cierras Nebadas de San Antonio". The maps clearly show however that he did not discover Admiralty Inlet, the entrance to Puget Sound, despite the fact natives had told him of a channel to the south. Quimper named what he thought was a circular "end" to the passage of the Strait of Juan de Fuca as "Seno de Santa Rosa". The pilot, Juan Carrasco, did locate Haro Strait (Canal de Lopez de Haro), Rosario Strait (Boca de Fidalgo),and Deception Pass (Boca de Flon) but did not explore them enough to realize this was an archipelago (San Juan islands). He would not have named them "boca" (mouth or bay) if they had further knowledge. Captain Vancouver did become the first European to ply the waters and landed near what is today the Tulalip Reservation to "claim" the land as "New Georgia" in homage to then King George III of England in 1792. For further reading in this interesting area viewers are referred to a book by Derek Hayes entitled "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest". George Vancouver's written work pertaining to the subject is " A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World" in three volumes, originally published posthumously in 1798. I am interested in learning more about the original Native American word, Queest-Alb, mentioned above for the peak. "alb" happens to be the Spanish word for the white robe occasionally worn by priests (Latin for white=alba).

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McPilchuck
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PostFri Jul 25, 2003 9:18 am 
Queest Alb... I know this answer, but my memory fades with age. Seems to me it was something like "distant mystic high one" or something like that. The Stillaquamish (Stolokwhamish -river people) never ventured to high on the mountain, tho goat (Sweet Lai) snares were found near Bullon, no early Indian camps were found up on Three Fingers. High white peaks and volcanos were considered taboo to Salish peoples, rarely did they climb above timberline, usually sticking to the berry fields or alpine meadows, to do so was to anger mountaim spirits. And local tribes were very oriented that way from generation to generation. Further, now that I think about it, some Indian legend says it was named after some Indian fellow who was waring with another over a woman, and thus some of the mountains were named after them, or they were the mountains themsevles waring over the love of a she-mountain. McPil

in the granite high-wild alpine land . . . www.alpinequest.com
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