Mount Langford el. 10623 feet (3,237.9 m) is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range

Absaroka Range

The Absaroka Range is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi across the Montana-Wyoming border, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains...

 in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

. The peak is named for Nathaniel P. Langford

Nathaniel P. Langford

Nathaniel Pitt Langford was an explorer, businessman, bureaucrat, vigilante and historian from St. Paul, Minnesota who played an important role in the early years of the Montana gold fields, territorial government and the creation of Yellowstone National Park.-Montana Gold Fields:On June 16, 1862...

, the first superintendent of Yellowstone and a leader of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition to Yellowstone in 1870. The expedition and Langford's subsequent promotion in Scribner's helped in the creation of the park in 1872.

On September 7, 1870 the Washburn expedition was camped along the southestern shore of Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park, The lake is 7,732 feet above sea level and covers with 110 miles of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 feet its deepest spot is at least 390 feet...

. That day Langford and Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane

Gustavus Cheyney Doane

Gustavus Cheyney Doane was a U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, inventor and Civil War soldier who played a prominent role in the exploration of Yellowstone as a member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition.-Early life:...

 chose to ascend a nearby peak. From that peak, Langford sketched the first reasonably accurate map of Yellowstone Lake. Upon their return to camp, Henry D. Washburn

Henry D. Washburn

Henry Dana Washburn was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...

 named the peak they ascended and a nearby secondary peak: Mount Langford and Mount Doane

Mount Doane

Mount Doane el. is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range in Yellowstone National Park. The peak is named for Lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a U.S. Army cavalry officer who escorted the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition into Yellowstone in 1870. During that expedition, Doane and Nathaniel P....

. They are annotated on the map Langford sketched. Langford described the summit with these words:


During the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, Hayden, for unknown reasons, moved the names of Mount Langford and Doane to peaks farther north. The original Mount Langford remained unnamed until 1885 when Arnold Hague

Arnold Hague

Arnold Hague was a United States geologist who did many geological surveys in the U.S., of which the best known was that for Yellowstone National Park. He also had assignments in China and Guatemala. He became a member of the U. S...

 named it Colter Peak

Colter Peak

Colter Peak el. is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range in the southeastern section of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is named for mountain man John Colter, reputedly the first white man to visit the Yellowstone region. Colter Peak was first ascended in 1870 by Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane...

.