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Now comes another grandstanding politician who wants to change a name. This time it is not the name change of an entire city like Lake Worth, Florida that has had the same name since it was founded but that of the loftiest mountain in America in Mount McKinley National Park since 1917. Mount McKinley towers 23,000 feet above tide.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has introduced legislation to change the name of North America's tallest peak from Mount McKinley to Mount Denali.
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It appears to me that it is the other way around. In a way a special interest group named it McKinley after it had been called Denali by the natives for a much longer time.
This is is an interesting section of Wikipedia on the subject:
The Koyukon Athabaskan people who inhabit the area around the mountain referred to the peak as Dinale or Denali (the high one or the great one). During the Russian ownership of Alaska, the common name for the mountain was Bulshaia Gora (bulshaia = Russian for great; gora = Russian for mountain), which is the Russian translation of Denali.[7] Of course, after the sale of Alaska to the United States, the Russian name had a problem. Bulshaia Mountain sounds similar to a well-known English vulgarism, followed by the word mountain.
In the late 1890s, a gold prospector named it McKinley as political support for then-president William McKinley. The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali, which is how it is referred to locally. However, a 1975 request by the Alaska state legislature to the United States Board on Geographic Names to do the same was blocked by Ohio congressman Ralph Regula, whose district includes McKinley's hometown. Members of the Ohio congressional delegation continue to protect the McKinley name, blocking attempts by the Alaska congressional delegation to get the Board of Geographic Names to change it to Denali. Thus, Denali is correct according to the Alaska state board, while McKinley is correct according to the national board.
Yes, thanks for that tidbit. The name has been around for almost 100 years. It is located in a national park by the same name.
I just love all these politicians that want to change stuff after a century of it being something else. Don't they have better things to do? No one is every happy. We still have Cara fighting the name Worth in Lake Worth. Such silly stuff.
Probably the Seminole Indians called Florida something else too. Is that a good enough reason to change the name?
There is no such thing as Mount McKinley National Park, it's Denali National Park.
The name of Mount McKinley National Park was subject to local criticism from the beginning of the park. The word "Denali" means "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself. The mountain was named after president William McKinley of Ohio in 1897 by local prospector William A. Dickey, although McKinley had no connection with the region. In 1980, Mount McKinley National Park was combined with Denali National Monument. At that time the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain back to "Denali," even though the U.S. Board of Geographic Names maintains "McKinley."
Thanks for all the feed back on this national park.
The park was established in 1917 as a wildlife refuge. It was originally named Mount McKinley National Park, but in 1980 the park was renamed and expanded in size by four million acres as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
Everyone refers to this mountain as Mt. McKinley in this national park no matter what Alaskans want to change it to..
"Everyone refers to this mountain as Mt. McKinley in this national park no matter what Alaskans want to change it to..."
No, "everyone" doesn't. Most people are aware of the history of the park and the mountain and call it Denali. Being contrary isn't an argument.
"Everyone" is aware of the history? I doubt that very much. Mt. McKinley is the name of it.
This does not sound to me that everybody wants to call it Mt. McKinley!
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/denalinationalparkregion/1516010012.html
In 1975, the state of Alaska petitioned the U.S. Geographic Names Board to change the name back to Denali. In 1980, Congress changed the name of the national park to Denali, but a single congressman from Ohio blocked changing the name of the mountain itself. McKinley was an Ohio governor and congressman before running for president. Rep. Ralph Regula, a Republican who has represented McKinley's former seat since 1972, and who even attended William McKinley Law School, found a clever maneuver to keep the name on the mountain. The names board has a policy of taking up no issue that is also being considered by Congress. In each Congress since 1977, Regula has introduced a single sentence as a budget amendment or as a standalone bill that states that McKinley is the mountain's permanent name. Although the bill never gets so much as a committee hearing, its existence is enough to invoke the board's policy and prevent it from considering the change.
Isn't this kind of like Maxwell wanting to change the name of Lake Worth?
Gad zooks, is everyone here from alaska?
Citizens have a right to change the name of things on their land. What's in a name?
Sam Goodstein
Well, this is a national park....that means, at least I think it means, that it belongs to the people.
Thanks, Sam Goodfella!
Is that Sam BADstein? Sam, make sure you vote NO on changing the name of our city. No more stupid chit.
Times change. That was 6 centuries ago. You want us to be accountable for what happened when they put Jesus on the Cross too I would imagine. Nutty thinking.
We are the greatest country on Earth. We have done more for the people living in other countries than any other country. We stand up for human rights. Our citizens give more to charities than any other on the Globe. In other words, we all had evolved.
If you are so ashamed, why in the heck are you here? Go to church and pray for all our souls. According to studies, we all came from Africa and we migrated the Planet. Our ancestors invaded every part of this Earth. With your thinking, we should all just slit our wrists and move on to the great divide.
So... What do you know about the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act???
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