Native American Names for Pacific Northwest Mountains
Naming is a powerful tool. It can give you power over a thing when you name a situation you are facing at work or elsewhere. ‘Name it claim’ it the catchphrase in some self-help circles. When you name something it shows you understand the thing you are naming. Parents name their children and pet owners name their companions. You can name your business and if you do that well it will not only be catchy it will express a marketing system too. Cities have been names and renamed when control has moved from one party to another — Constantinople to Instanbul. We name our cars and guitars and whatever we find special to our lives. Where my family owns a cabin some have taken to naming the carts we use to transport groceries and so forth to our respective cabins. Okay that is a kinda extreme case.
The above picture is of Denali former Mount Mckinley which was renamed in 2015 by then President Obama. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/31/us/mount-mckinley-will-be-renamed-denali.htm. The original naming of Denali to Mount McKinley did stir some controversy in it’s day too. https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/historyculture/denali-origins.htm
There is now a movement brewing to return the names of the mountains of the Cascade Mountain Range to Native American names. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/lets-return-the-cascade-volcanoes-to-their-original-names.
Following is a list of some mountains and their current names along with their Native American counter-name.
Mt Adams >> Klickitat
Was named after President John Adams. He was not president when the mountain was discovered by Louis & Clark. The Louisiana Purchase had not even been negotiated while he was president. Naming it for a president who had little to do with western discovery of the mountain makes little sense.
Mt Baker >> Kulshan
Glacier Peak >> Takomed
Mt Hood >> >Wy’east
Mt Jefferson >>> Seekseekqua(not pictured)
Mt McLoughlin >>> M’laiksini Yaina(not pictured)
Mt Rainier >> >Tahoma
The argument for changing the name of Mount Rainier to Tahoma is fairly strong one as well as outlined here: https://cascadiabioregion.org/department-of-bioregion/native-palce-names-from-mt-rainier-to-tahoma Named after Rear Admiral Rainier of the British army. Rear Admiral Rainier never set foot on the North American continent and never came close to witnessing the mount itself.
Mt St Helens >>> Loowit or Louwala-Clough
There are many resources on renaming these mountains and other landmarks throughout the Cascade bioregon. This is just the beginning of my searches. I plan to update this list as I find more information on the first names for significant landmarks in Pacific Northwest. In some cases I have not found strong evidence that one name over another is more appropriate. I will keep investigating though.
Thanks for reading.
