On August 5, 1858, Julia Archibald Holmes (February 15, 1838 – January 19, 1887) who was a Canadian-American suffragist, abolitionist, mountaineer, and journalist became the first white woman on record to reach the summit of Pikes Peak. In 2014, she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
She, her husband James Holmes, and two others began their trek on August 1, 1858. For the ascent, Julia Holmes wore what she called her “American costume” — a short dress, bloomers, moccasins, and a hat which earned her the name “Bloomer Girl on Pikes Peak.” In a letter written to her mother from the summit, she said:
“I have accomplished the task which I marked out for myself…Nearly everyone tried to discourage me from attempting it, but I believed that I should succeed…”
~A Bloomer Girl on Pike’s Peak, 1858: Julia Archibald Holmes, First White Woman to Climb Pike’s Peak. Agnes Wright Spring, ed.; Denver: Western History Department, Denver Public Library, 1949), 39.
