Postcard from the Past: Bald Mountain Renamed Kennaday Peak in Honor of First District Forest Ranger

By: Dick Perue

With all of the crap going on nowadays demanding places be renamed in order to be “politically correct,” I just had to tell this story, which gives a good reason why a mountain was renamed in order to honor someone. Enjoy. 

The first forest ranger on the Brush Creek District of the Medicine Bow National Forest was A.J. “Jack” Kennaday, posing in this rare photo which shows his belt stuffed with ammunition for the pistol and rifle he is sporting, while exhibiting a couple of bears he evidently shot.

Jack and his wife established a ranch – shown below – at the base of Bald Mountain 12 miles east of Saratoga in 1900 by filing for homestead rights.

Historical accounts note the Kennadays settled in Carbon County in 1898, and Jack worked as a ranch hand until he acquired the homestead.

He was also a cattle brand inspector and deputy sheriff for a number of years and was forest ranger from 1907-09. 

Jack ranched on the spread until his death in 1923. His family continued to operate the ranch into the mid-1950s.

In 1911, the U.S. Forest Service renamed Bald Mountain “Kennaday Peak” in honor of the pioneer rancher and the first forest ranger in the mountains surrounding the Upper North River Valley in south-central Carbon County.