BENJAMIN SAYRE COMSTOCK

1859-1941

Benjamin Sayre Comstock, the son of Lydia Sayre and George Wells Comstock, was born in New York City in 1859, in a house which stood at Broadway and 34th Street, the present site of Macy’s. Educated by tutors as a boy, he attended schools in Vevey, Switzerland, and Wiesbaden, Germany, before entering Princeton, from which he was graduated in 1880. He was for many years head of the Comstock Manufacturing Company and was a director of the 3-in-1 Oil Company. He was a man of quiet charm, and a lover of good music, being regularly in attendance at the Philadelphia Orchestra. He retired after the World War and in 1925 went to Princeton to live. He died in a hospital at Trenton, after a brief illness, in his 83rd year.

His interest in the Alps began early and he records an ascent of Piz Corvatsch in 1874. He joined the American Alpine Club in 1908. His climbing in Canada began at a time when much was new, yet he often failed to carry to their conclusion expeditions whose success was almost in his grasp. In 1890 he made guideless attempts on Rogers Peak and Mt. Sir Donald; in 1900 he visited Glacier Lake and did minor climbing. In 1901 he accompanied the second ascents of Mt. Dawson and Eiffel Peak, being alone on the latter. In 1907 his climbs included Mts. Victoria and Lefroy, and during 1908-09 he investigated the approaches to Mt. Sir Sandford. As late as 1928, when he was 69, he ascended the Pte. Dent de Veisivi, Aig. du Moine and Aig. du Tour. At the age of 70 he made a long packtrain trip in the Canadian Rockies, accompanying the party which made the first ascent of Mt. Sir Alexander.

J. M. T.