| SAGE REMEMBRANCES By Bill T Russell, DPS Archivist/Historian April 1991 PEAKS LIST CHRONICLE |
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The first table below gives data on each edition of the Peaks List as a stand alone document, the lists that were printed in Chapter Schedules in the 1950's are based on these documents. The second table gives the date at which each of the present 97 peaks was added to the DPS Peaks List. It also has the dates for Cerro Gordo, Coso and Marble which were later deleted. The data for both tables was compiled from Angeles Chapter schedules, from the Southern Sierran, which started publication in May 1946, from the DPS Newsletter, now THE DESERT SAGE, which started in March, 1950 and from DPS records including minutes of meetings. In 1941, Chester Versteeg selected the seven peaks that comprised the Initial "List of Qualifying Peaks". Sierra Club members who "negotiated all seven peaks" could become members of the section. The peaks are listed in the DPS paragraph in Schedule 109, Spring 1942 (see SAGE 212, p37). The original membership roll has ten signatures of people who met this requirement, the first three are Chester Versteeg, Niles Werner and Freda Walbrecht. In early 1947, the change was made to require only six peaks for membership, bagging all seven earned the handsome, newly created emblem pin. In mid 1947, Boundary and Charleston were added by the DPS Mountaineering Committee and, by Navy request, Coso and Maturango were removed. In early 1948 four more peaks were added and Coso and Maturango were reinstated, making a total of thirteen. Probably at this time, the emblem requirement was changed to seven peaks, including New York Butte, Telescope and White Mt, which thereby became the initial emblem peaks. In Dec. 1948, the Mountaineering Committee added two peaks and, at the annual meeting in Dec. 1949, the membership approved three more. The annual meeting of Jan. 11, 1952 dropped Cerro Gordo and replaced it with nearby Pleasant. The 1953 meeting defrocked White Mt as an emblem peak because it now had a road to the summit, and elevated Montgomery and Rabbit. The emblem requirement was raised to nine peaks including the four emblem peaks. From 1949, peaks were added or deleted by membership vote at the annual meetings or at business meetings. Until 1963, a quorum was 10 members and after that it was 10% of the membership. However only six members attended the Nov. 1960 annual meeting at Harwood Lodge when Old Woman was added. Mail ballots were used as early as 1965 for peak list changes but the requirement for mail balloting of all the members was not put into the bylaws until April 1973. The annual meeting of Dec. 7, 1956, delisted Coso and Maturango because of difficulty of access. Both peaks were added again to the list in 1961 but Coso was delisted for good in 1973. Marble was also delisted in 1973 because of the nearby new freeway. Two other peaks which came and went were Funeral, Dec. 57 to Dec. 59 and Searles, May 59 to Mar. 60. At a meeting in May 1959, Kofa (now Signal) was made an emblem peak. The number of peaks for the emblem was raised to fifteen including the five emblem peaks which were now New York Butte, Telescope, Montgomery. Rabbit and Kofa. In May 1960, Inyo replaced New York Butte as an emblem peak, the latter had become a possible drive up. In Mar. 1966, El Picacho del Diablo, and in Apr. 1973, Charleston, were made emblem peaks, but the requirement for the emblem stayed at fifteen peaks including five of the seven emblem peaks. |
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Editions of the Peaks List Document |
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