The Chronicles Of Grant County:
One Mountain, One Volcano
Part Two

July 29, 2020

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
(The photograph was provided courtesy of Simon Steinberger through Pixabay, 2010.)

Last week, we noted how several roadways north of Silver City are named after major mountains and volcanoes in the world;  we detailed two such streets.  Today, we look at two additional streets that get their names from geographic landmarks in Asia and Africa.

Mount Everest Road gets its name from the mountain of the same name located on the border of China (Tibet) and Nepal.

“Almost all who encounter Everest are awed by it,” according to a statement from the Earth Observatory of NASA.  “As the tallest mountain in the world, Everest is the standard to which all other mountains are compared. In Tibetan, the mountain is called Chomolungma, meaning ‘goddess mother of the snows.’  The Nepalese name is Sagarmatha, ‘mother of the universe.’”

The first published mention of the name, “Mount Everest,” was in a news article in The Times of London on October 4, 1856:  “The mountain has no name intelligible to civilized men, and Colonel [Andrew] Waugh has therefore ventured to denominate it 'Mount Everest' after a former surveyer-general [of India].”

“In 1856, what was then called ‘Peak XV’ was declared to be the world’s tallest mountain at 29,002 feet (8,840 meters),” according to the Library of Congress.  “Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India, believing there was not one definitive local name for the mountain, decided to name the peak after his predecessor, Sir George Everest in the 1850s.  The name was officially adopted by Britain’s Royal Geographical Society in 1865.”

The identities of the individuals who first reached the summit of Mount Everest are not completely certain, according to several sources.  It is possible that individuals native to the region – Chinese, Indian, Nepalese, and/or Tibetan – could have reached the summit long before non-native individuals even knew of the existence of the highest mountain in the world.

“In June 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a last attempt at the summit and never returned,” the Library of Congress noted in a statement.  “It has remained a mystery whether the two men ever reached the top of the mountain.  The first recorded successful ascent was made in 1953 from the Nepal side of the mountain by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali sherpa.”

Kilimanjaro Court gets its name from a mountain that forms the core of the Kilimanjaro National Park in the United Republic of Tanzania.  Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) above sea level.  The source of the name of this landmark is not certain.

According to a statement from the Tanzania National Parks, “Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain on the continent of Africa with three distinct peaks, Shira (3,962 meters), Mawenzi (5,149 meters), and Kibo (5,895 meters).  Mawenzi is the second highest peak on Kilimanjaro…The volcano known as Mawenzi formed as a result of another eruption within the Shira caldera.  The top of its western face is fairly steep with many crags, pinnacles and dyke swarms.  Its eastern side falls in cliffs over 1,000 meters high in a complex of gullies and rock faces, rising above two deep gorges.”

The United States Geological Survey indicated in a report issued in 1991 that Mawenzi and Shira are extinct volcanoes, while Kibo is a dormant volcano and could erupt again.

“Kilimanjaro National Park covering an area of some 75,575 hectares [186,750 acres] protects the largest free standing volcanic mass in the world and the highest mountain in Africa, rising 4,877 meters above surrounding plains to 5,895 meters at its peak,” according to a statement from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  “With its snow-capped peak, the Kilimanjaro is a superlative natural phenomenon, standing in isolation above the surrounding plains overlooking the savannah.”

“In 1987, UNESCO declared Kilimanjaro a World Heritage Site due to its uniqueness,” noted a statement from the Tanzania National Parks.  “…Kilimanjaro National Park [created in 1973] is one of…[Tanzania’s most] popular parks…Apart from a mountain, the park offers other attractions and there are some rare and endemic species of flora and fauna.  Twenty-five hundred species of plants and one hundred and forty mammal species have been recorded.”

A herd of elephants is seen near Mount Kilimanjaro in the United Republic of Tanzania.
(The photograph was provided courtesy of Herbert Aust through Pixabay, 2019.)

Do you have questions about communities in Grant County?

A street name?  A building?

Your questions may be used in a future news column.

 Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@mail.com.

© 2020 Richard McDonough