On 12 August 1901, Charles A. Yont and William B. Felker Jr. made motoring history by driving a steam-powered Locomobile to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado. The ascent, reaching more than 14,000 feet, was an extraordinary test for an automobile at a time when motor vehicles were still regarded with considerable scepticism. Their Locomobile had to negotiate a rugged wagon road that had deteriorated after the opening of the Pikes Peak Cog Railway in 1891. Felker drove while Yont, an amateur photographer, documented the remarkable expedition. The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives preserves the 1901 Locomobile publication Up Pike’s Peak and Elsewhere in a Locomobile, which recorded their journey.
The achievement demonstrated the potential of motorised transport beyond conventional roads and helped establish hill climbing as an important test of automotive capability. More than a century later, Pikes Peak remains synonymous with motorsport and engineering innovation.
