WHITNEY, MOUNT, a peak near the southern extremity of the high Sierra Nevada in Inyo and Tulare counties, Cali fornia. It is the highest (14,5o1 ft. above sea-level) summit of the United States, excluding Alaska. From its granite crest can be seen innumerable spires but little lower than its own, segre gated by canyons of tremendous depth. Much of the ruggedness and beauty of the regions is due to the erosive action of many alpine glaciers that once existed on the higher summits. Only small patches of ice and snow now exist on its north side. Mt. Whitney was sighted in July 1864 by members of the California State Geological Survey, and was named in honour of their chief, Professor Josiah Dwight Whitney. The first ascent was made on
Aug. 18, 1873 by John Lucas, Charles D. Begole and A. H. John son, all of Inyo county, Calif. In the same year, Sept. 19, it was climbed by Clarence King, who had failed by only a few hundred feet in 1864, while a member of the State Geological Survey.
See C. King, Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (19°7) ; and John Muir, The Mountains of California (9th ed., 1911).