Mount Ellen is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
located in
Garfield County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States.
Description
Mount Ellen's North Summit Ridge is the highest point in the
Henry Mountains; it is also the highest point in Garfield County. It can be reached by a short hike from an unpaved road. These mountains were the last to be surveyed by the
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...
in the
lower 48 states. The mountain can be seen from as far as
Mount Peale in the
La Sal Mountains of eastern Utah.
Mount Ellen is an
ultra prominent peak
An ultra-prominent peak, or ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of or more; it is also called a P1500. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or fro ...
, meaning that it has more than of
topographic prominence
In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...
, standing out considerably from nearby mountains. It stands in the
watershed of the
Fremont River, which together with
Muddy Creek forms the
Dirty Devil River, which drains into the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
, and ultimately into the
Gulf of California in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
The
Paiute name for Mount Ellen was Un tar re. It was also referred to as First Mountain. After climbing to the summit in June 1872,
Almon Harris Thompson named it for his wife Ellen.
Ellen Powell Thompson was also the sister of explorer
John Wesley Powell.
[Allen, Steve (2012). Utah's Canyon Country Place Names, Canyon Country Press.]
Over several days beginning on September 10, 1895, a detachment of the U.S. Army Signal Corps established the world
heliograph record from stations atop Mount Ellen, Utah and
Mount Uncompahgre, Colorado.
The record for visual signaling was established utilizing mirrors 8 inches across and telescopes. The flashing signals communicated over a distance of 183 miles.
See also
*
List of mountains in Utah
*
List of Ultras of the United States
References
External links
*
Mountains of Utah
Mountains of Garfield County, Utah
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