Location: Ventura County, California
A use name, accepted from local usage. The Nordhoff ridge viewed from the town of Ojai has some resemblance to the relief of a sleeping Indian (Chief Peak, being the high point, is the spot for the head and bonnet). There does not appear to be any earlier source than local hunters who frequented the area above the Sespe and enjoyed pointing out this anthropomorphism to tourists, eg, Culbertscin, ca 1920.
Nordhoff was the onginal name of Ojai until WWI. After Charles Nordhoff (1830-1901), Prussian born author of California for Health, Wealth and Residence (1972), an enormously popular work greatly responsible for stimulating immigration to our area. His son wrote Mutiny on the Bounty (1932).
Peak was added to the HPS Peak List in 1962.
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