Nature
Prospect Peak, a 9,527-foot summit in Yellowstone National Park’s Washburn Range in Park County, Wyoming, lies about 6 miles west-southwest of Tower Junction. Its significance lies in a shifting naming history that reflects the uncertainties of early Yellowstone mapmaking. In 1880, superintendent Philetus Norris named it Mount Stephans for his assistant C. N. Stephans. Between 1883 and 1885, members of the Arnold Hague Geological Surveys called it Surprise Peak for unknown reasons. In 1885, Hague assigned the present name, Prospect Peak, also for unclear reasons. U.S. Geological Survey mapping still preserves this layered history through alternate and variant names for the summit.
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Wyoming · United States