The massive Greenhorn Mountain can be seen from Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, and also from along Interstate 25 rising over 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the great plains to the east. The mountain's habitats are protected within the secluded Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness Area, which is only accessed by a few trails and a 4-wheel drive road on its north.
The original name for the mountain peak was Cuerno Verde.[6] The name comes from Cuerno Verde (Green Horn) given by the colonial Spanish of the Provincias Internas to two, father and son, Jupe Comanche band mahimiana paraibo or war chiefs. The younger Cuerno Verde was known to the Comanches as "Man Who Holds Danger." On September 3, 1779, younger Cuerno Verde, his son, medicine man, four principal chiefs, and ten of his warriors, were killed near Greenhorn Mountain by the men of the expedition of Spanish troops and native American allies (Apache, Ute, and Pueblo) under Juan Bautista de Anza.[7]
US Board on Geographic Names decides in favor using Greenhorn over Cuerno Verde for highest peak of the Wet Mountains located in the US state of Colorado.
On April 4, 1906, the United States Board on Geographic Names decided to use the English translation, Greenhorn, for the name it carries today.
^"PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University". PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. Retrieved October 10, 2023. To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.
^Elizabeth A.H. John, Storms Brewed in Other Men's Worlds, Texas A&M University Press, College Station 1975, pages 584-589 ISBN9780806128696 (2nd ed. University of Oklahoma Press, 1996).
Sources
Pekka Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire,Yale University Press, New Haven & London 2008, pages 103-104 ISBN978-0300151176
