Pikes Peak, 14,110 feet above sea level and regarded as the most celebrated peak in America, was named for the explorer Capt. Zubulon M. Pike, who first saw it in 1806, attempted to climb it, failed, and reported it unclimbable. It was ascended in 1820 by Dr. Edwin James, a later explorer. A cog railway reached the summit in 1890, and a highway did so in 1915. Motor races up the peak are held annually. At its foot lies the resort city of Colorado Springs, founded in 1871, where the first town called Colorado had stood years earlier, and the U. S. Air Force Academy rises ten miles north. Pikes Peak is famed for its history and conspicuous position, and Colorado contains more than fifty mountains over 14,000 feet high.