Jackson’s photograph made land feature Elephant Rock relatively famous

 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 I saw an elephant a few miles west of here. The phrase “seeing the elephant” is an Americanism of the mid to late 19th century. 

The phrase appears throughout the United States in the Mexican-American War, the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, the American Civil War, the 1849 Gold Rush, and the Westward Expansion Trails (Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail), the mythical elephant was an extremely popular way of expressing an overwhelming emotion. 

During the 20th century the phrase faded from popularity but when historians started taking note of its recurrence in historical newspapers, journals, and literature they often summed the elephant up too quickly and categorized it as a negative experience. 

Desolation and sadness may have been one trait of seeing the elephant, but it was certainly not the only or even the most prevalent. 

More often, American pioneers of the Overland Trails talk of the excitement and anticipation of heading west to see the elephant. Elephant “sightings” often begin with excitement and high ideals only to be disappointing or disenchanting. 

The high excitement followed by the low frustrations are what epitomize the elephant as something most wanted to “see” but few would have wanted to “see” again. ‘Been there, done that,’ I suppose, is the modern version. 

About 130 years ago, in the summer of 1885, William Henry Jackson unpacked his mule, unloaded his glass plates and his field dark room and took an iconic photograph that looks very much like Elephant Rock or Phoebe’s Arch of today. It became Print No. 1170 and part of his Sample Album, Colorado Book VIII, print No. 74. 

The book now is frayed, creased and cracked, but resides in the Denver Public Library’s Western History/Genealogy Department, right at the top of the downtown library. 

 Jackson’s photograph made the land feature Elephant Rock relatively famous with Stereoscopic prints of it being especially popular. I also found some interesting notes awhile back from the Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society’s road meeting held in November, 1892. 

The presentation at that program was developed by Geo. L. Cannon, Jr. who identified himself as a lecturer at the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua Assembly in the previous season. He titled it: Notes on the Geology of Palmer Lake, Colo., and the Paleozoic Exposures Along the Front Range. 

“A scarcely perceptible erosion ridge runs through town, from the base of Mt. Thompson to the Arkansas-Platte divide — the beginning of the crest of that great tract of upland country that projects far out into the area of the great plains. 

Near the Rio Grande Pavilion, drops of rain separated by a few inches space will start on that long journey to the Gulf by widely diverging paths, some falling north into Plum Creek drainage, and seeking the “Father of Waters” by way of Palmer Lake, Plum Creek, the Platte and the Missouri rivers; while other drops fall southerly into Monument Creek which joins Fontaine qui Bouille at Colorado Springs, this intern, the Arkansas at Pueblo, which empties into the Mississippi 400 miles below mouth of the Missouri River,” wrote Cannon. The report mentions distinctive landmarks in this area. 

“The views from this point are about the most beautiful in Colorado. To the west rise the precipitous walls of Mt. Hermon, Mt. Cannon, Chautauqua Crest and Mt. Thompson, towering 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the valley. to the east, the curious ‘Elephant Rock,’ Phoebe’s Arch, the Lion Head and castellated summit of Monument Creek, with its far-reaching, pine-clad mesas and frequent exposures of brilliantly -tinted rocks of fantastic forms. 

To the north lies Palmer Lake, and valley of Plum Creek, filled with numerous buttes, mesas and flat-topped ridges separated by gentle, undulating valleys. 

The gentler slopes are carpeted with a growth of silvery-green herbage, that contrast admirably with clumps of oak brush and dark pine forests, and with the warmer tints of the sandstone and granite exposures. In the early summer the hillsides are often a mass of purple-blue, or gold from the acres of abundant mountain flowers.

 The scenery of this vicinity differs from that of the points along the foothills, in the substitution of mesas and buttes for the usual hogback configuration,” he said. Jackson saw the Elephant. Cannon saw the Elephant. I have seen the Elephant. 

You too, ought to able to see the Elephant.