Location: San Bernardino County, California
USFS Geologist Ginny Grove suggests that this name was likely given for lead formations that may have been found near this summit, although she has no knowledge of any such deposits. Galena is a gray mineral, essentially lead-sulphur (PbS), the principal ore of lead. It occurs in beds, pockets and in true veins. In its natural form it appears as masses of blue-gray glistening cubical crystals. It was valued for its beauty by many American Indian tribes who sometimes shaped it into simpler forms for ceremonial purposes. Named after the Greek physician Claudius Galenus (ca.130-201), the principal authority on medicine until modem times. Lead is generally symbolic of heaviness or of oppressive burden. Christian symbolism often related lead to humanity burdened with sin. In alchemy, lead was identified with Saturn whose positive attributes are the consolations of philosophy, asceticism, and systemic thought in general. It is believed that this is the peak that the Aturaviaturn Serrano Indians knew as “Júri” which meant “hanging down”.
Name first appears on USGS San Gorgonio Mtn topo (1902).
Peak was on the original 1946 HPS Peak List.
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