The Imperial Adventure of Zebulon Montgomery Pike: A Terrestrial Paradise

About this episode

This episode explores Zebulon Montgomery Pike's adventurous journey through the Great Plains and his attempts to navigate the Rocky Mountains.

In this episode, Pike and his men leave the Pawnee village and traipse through the Great Plains until they reach the Arkansas River where Lt. Wilkinson and a few other soldiers will take canoes down to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Pike will reach the Mexican (Rocky) Mountains where he will attempt to climb Pike’s Peak before finding the headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers. But as winter settles in and his men’s strength weakens, he fatefully decides to cross the Sangre de Cristos in an attempt to find the “Red River”. We know though, that he was headed for the the Rio del Norte (Rio Grande) the entire time in an effort to get captured by the Spanish and escorted through New Mexico and New Spain.

People in this episode

Host: Thomas Wayne Riley

Topics covered

• exploration
• history
• Pike's Peak
• Great Plains
• Spanish capture
• Arkansas River
• mountain climbing

Keywords

• Zebulon Pike
• Great Plains
• Arkansas River
• Pike's Peak
• Sangre de Cristos
• Rio Grande
• exploration history

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Pawnee village, Great Plains, Arkansas River, Louisiana, Mexican Mountains, Pike’s Peak, headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers, Sangre de Cristos, Red River, Rio del Norte

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