My answer was, "Well, you see, it's the first initial of the name of the town nearest the mountain." This, evidently, was not the answer that was desired. What she was really asking was: WHY DO THEY DO IT?

I do not know that answer. I would like to know it. Having grown up in a tiny desert town with a C on the mountain, I'd accepted it as normal behavior to put town initials on mountains. Can someone really smart tell me how this behavior started?

January, 2002: And now we know...