East Butte Chimney

The East Butte Chimney. Photo from the 1920's or 1930's when Clyde Stanley operated the Wayside Press in Keota, Colorado. It is unclear who first chopped the footholds on the north face of the East Butte. Some say the Sterling Fire Department climbed both buttes in 1909 - the West with the aid of ladders. There is also a story that Henry Nelson, brother of Soren "Pawnee Buttes" Nelson first cut the holds. Soren homesteaded just north of the Buttes in 1884; it is unknown when Henry was supposed to have made his ascent of the East Butte.