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Venado Peak

mountain in United States of America

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ7919536 ↗
Source-derived summary

Venado Peak is one of the major peaks of the Taos Mountains group of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. It is located in Taos County, New Mexico, about 8 miles (13 km) northeast of the town of Questa. Its summit is the highest point in the Latir Peak Wilderness, part of Carson National Forest. The peak's name means "deer" in Spanish.

The high point of the group of peaks north of the Red River and southwest of Costilla Creek, Venado Peak ranks tenth by elevation and sixth by topographic prominence in the state.

Other peaks in the group include Latir Peak, 12,708 feet (3,873 m), Virsylvia Peak, 12,594 feet (3,839 m), Cabresto Peak, 12,448 feet (3,794 m), Baldy Mountain, 12,048 feet (3,672 m) and Pinabete Peak, 11,948 feet (3,642 m). (The origins of the names "Latir" and "Virsylvia" are unknown, while "Cabresto" means "rope" or "halter" and "Pinabete" means "pine tree" in Spanish.) Latir Peak is the most well-known of the entire group, despite not being the highest peak, and is the namesake for the surrounding wilderness area, nine small alpine lakes on the northeast side of the group, and a creek draining those lakes. Despite being significantly lower than the other peaks, Pinabete peak is just as visually prominent, as it is the end of a long ridge jutting out southwest toward the plains near Questa. It rises about 4,250 feet (1,300 m) above the plain in about 4 miles (6 km).

Just south of the group is Cabresto Creek, and also Cabresto Lake, a popular fishing destination with an established Forest Service campground.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Venado Peak” as mountain in United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Venado, Peak and mountain.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 271-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Venado, Peak and mountain providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Venado Peak”, the useful work is to connect “mountain in United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7919536. Authority coordinates are 36.792, -105.493. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Venado Peak”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Venado Peak primary sources, Venado Peak archive and Venado research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Venado Peak”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Venado Peak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.