Peak Curiosity
From the Summer 2026 Issue
How did those mountains get their names?
Scotchman Peak in Clark Fork is the tallest in Bonner County. Scotchman 1 is the focus of the image on the right, while Scotchman II is to the far left; Black Top is the middle knob. Photo by Don Otis.
Grandma Mariam Clayton pointed it out, and I’ve never looked at Scotchman Peak again without seeing a craggy Scot with a ruffled shirt. North is Scotchman Two, not so Scots in appearance, but just as craggy. Between is Black Top, with yes—a black top.
A close look at Round Top makes it clear how it got its name. Photo by Corey Vogel.
How place names came to be can be mysterious or obvious. Round Top, above Hope, has a round top. Gunsight, north of Schweitzer, emulates the rear sight of a rifle. Roman Nose, Chimney Rock, and the Lions Head in the Selkirks, or Clifty and Sawtooth in the Cabinets? One only need look to answer the question. Baldy Mountain near Sandpoint fits the pattern—one of at least six so-named in Idaho, hundreds country-wide. Packsaddle, east of Lake Pend Oreille, has two points separated by a ridge that looks like a pack frame. Nearby is Peep-A-Day Ridge, referencing its relationship to sunrise.
Chimney Rock is likely the area’s most well-recognized peak. Staff photo.
Trestle Peak inherited its name from Trestle Creek, which gained that moniker when the Northern Pacific built a long, curved trestle at Pack River in 1882. Schweitzer Peak inherited its name from a relatively crazy Swiss immigrant who achieved fame by eating his neighbors’ cats and courting Ella Farmin somewhat obsessively.
Lunch Peak was named by road builders with a sense of humor who ate midday meals there. Nearby are Smorgasbord and Nosebag Creeks. Sundance Mountain in the Selkirks was named for the way sunlight reflects off rocks near the top. Green Monarch Mountain, and the ridge above Lake Pend Orielle, were named after the Green Monarch Mine, established in the 1900s.
Many peaks have inherited names from people: Delyle Ridge east of Clark Fork, for Charley Delyle, of whom I can find no more information; Johnny Long Mountain above Wrencoe Loop, for a trapper who never came home; Gisborne Mountain in the Selkirks, for Harry Gisborne, Forest Service fire expert who worked at Priest River Experimental Station.
The Selkirks are named for Thomas Douglas, Fifth Earl of Selkirk, a shaker and mover in the settling of Canada who never saw his namesake. The Cabinets are named for Cabinet Gorge, with rock shelves that reminded David Thompson’s French voyageurs of, well, cabinets.
The Lions Head above Priest Lake resembles a lion’s head to some, though others come up with different animals. Photo by Jim Mellen.
The Seven Sisters? There are many seven “somethings” named “Seven Sisters,” including the Pleiades and cliffs along the English Channel. Whoever named ours is lost to history. Gold Hill? Not much gold was discovered there, unless you count high-end real estate. But witnesses to sunsets from City Beach might have a clue to why it gained that name.
Blacktail Mountain and Little Blacktail west of the lake are named for a local ungulate. Antelope Mountain near Clark Fork wasn’t, but whoever named it once saw a pronghorn from behind. Whiskey Rock was named for either a boating accident or a swim race—involving a jug of whiskey.
At last, we come to Atlasta Peak, named by trail-builder Pete Croy, after a project took longer than he anticipated. South of that is Keokee peak, which lent its name to the company that publishes this magazine. That name may have migrated here with a settler from the town of Keokee, Virginia.
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