Pike Expedition
On November 15, Pike recorded the first sight of the distant mountain he called "Grand Peak". It has since been called Pikes Peak in his honor. Pike tried to climb the peak, hoping to get a view of the surrounding area to record on maps, the 14,000-foot summit. Pike's group ascended a lesser summit nearby—likely Mount Miller, which was named for Theodore Miller, one of the soldiers who accompanied Pike. With winter threatening, Pike pressed onward up the Arkansas, and on December 7 the party reached Royal Gorge, a spectacular canyon on the Arkansas at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Pike's Peak Country
Pike's Peak Country was the name given to the gold mining region of the western United States near Pikes Peak during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1858-1861. The Pike's Peak Country included the region of western Kansas Territory roughly west of the 104th meridian west and the region of southwestern Nebraska Territory roughly west of the 104th meridian west and south of the 41st parallel north. The Pike's Peak Country became the heart of the extralegal Jefferson Territory on October 24, 1859, and the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861.