THE STATES: Mt. Borah

Immovably rough and rugged is Idaho’s highest mountain, rising in independent grandeur above wild country between the Big Lost River and Pahsimeroi ranges. No less rugged is Idaho’s senior U. S. Senator, William Edgar Borah, rising in independent grandeur above the wild Senate between the Republican and Democratic ranges.

“Highly complimented” felt Senator Borah last week to learn that his State, following the example of Wyoming which named its highest peak after its longtime Senator Francis Emroy Warren (TIME, July 1), was naming its highest spot Mount Borah. The Idaho Geographic Board, with the Senator’s permission, forwarded the mountain’s new name to the U. S. Geographic Board in Washington for inscription on all future maps.

Mount Borah was “discovered” by U. S. Geologist Lee Morrison of Kaw, Okla., who measured its heights but inadvertently departed without giving it a name. Last week, its official name in Washington was “Beauty Triangulation Point [12,655 ft.].”

Situated in Lemhi National Park, Custer County, 50 miles from the famed Craters of the Moon, Mt. Borah, unlike its namesake in Washington, is white-crested the year round, cold, unapproachable, terribly silent.