Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-02-06
MOUNT RAlNlER on IAcoMA.


In the controversy over the name Of
this mountain oil the rivalry between
lacoma aud Seattle hnds expression.
know Of one Tacoma man who refused
~ infrndu~ed ~ . person he hsd h~en
most anxious to meet because he happen
ed On oyerhear the latter refer 10 Mount
Rainier. In Seattle many subscribers
we're once obtained On IN Engllsh maya
rlne In which IN article on their city
VAS 20 appear. IL was Published, and
was ~ lsudatory of them ~ the most
captious seattlclte could desire, but not
Q copy was sold In the city, nor would q
subscriber allow . copy to enter biz
house, because, BY an objectionable
oversight, the writer had called the dis.
puted mountain "Tscoma."
In the Seattle stationery shops they
keep alps Of paper with "Mount Rain
YER" neatly printed on them for pastlng
over the AMOUNT Tacoma" that some.
times appears on maps they are obliged
tn cell. They also carefully erase thu
words AMOUNT TacomA" from NIL
souvenir photographs hearing Il that
come Into their possession aud sul'stl.
tut@ "Mount Rainier" before selling
them. No doubt these same things are
done In Tacoms, only In reversed order
The Tacoma man will explain Will
convincing earncstness that Ta.ko-mah
Was the aboriginal name of the mount
ain for centuries before the white set
Element of the country that IL not onl,
euphonious. hut beautifully poetlcai Ia
lie mesning--"the breast that nour'
ishes." "surrly." he will say, "a mos'
appropriate name for q mountain Whose
glacial streams pcrpetually nourish thu
plains at it, feet. Aud Who wss th'
itsiner. anyhow, An Engllshman who
not only never saw TIL. country, bat
Was iuimlcalto u aud tn its Institutions.
when you repeat this to your frisDc
In seattle he will assume . Hue expires
.Ion Of mingled scorn aud pity for YOU
crvdulity. and exclsim; "fhst's al
bosh. Tacoma doesn't mean anything
of the Kind. The word simply mean
mountain aud nothing more. As for thu
name RAINIER, u Was given by Vancou
yer. the fret white man who ever saw
the mountain, aud Who certainly earpo,
the right Ia name What be discovered
II appears on hi charts II this region
and AZ all his nomenclature has beet
adopted by the United States Goa.
survey, there IL no reason why an ex
ception should be- made In this case
This silly row about nothing I. all pop
pycock, anyhow. ! for one, am tired ~
Il, and wish those fellow. over Their
would drop II. ,slDer u 10, aud Raine
II will be- for all time, even II Ne have q
60 up and chl.el the name on th. mount
tain side In letters = thousand fee
long"
~ for him Who would maintain friend
" relations with both camps u Il sel
10 r,memhef that "facoms" I. the count
er.lgn In Tscoma, aud "l.,inler" II
Seattle, while on neutral ground th'
subject ~ contention should b. -pokrI
of q. "the Mount,ln," "the dispute,
mountain" or "the rIsms 20 Amer
lea"
n Ia. been suggested that the gues
tion might be settled by compromise sn'
popular vote, by submitting the combi
nation. "raconier' aud "I,Alcoms" q
the people ~ the two cities, calling a.
an expression % preference from ever,
man, woman and .cbool-chlld Ia them
Outsiders are apparently quite willlnI
for the sake ~ peace Ia call the mount
ain by any name approved by III
cities. Ily TIL. mean. controversy q
which no other end seem. pos.lbl
might be- happily concluded.