The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-23
nl1rrrR or o
A vigorous ana Learned Essay on mountain
Naming.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-Sir: Van.
couver found a snowy peak in 1893 and called 1t
Mount Rainier. His claim TO It's discovery and
tho propricty Of tho name he gave II have never
been questioned. Every standard chart issued
since shows that mountain with that name.
Text books have taught it to every schoolboy.
and until the Northern Pacific Railway Com.
pany bought Tacoma no other namo was known.
Gen. McCarver started a town in 1867 and
gave 1t the Indian name Of a creek near by, Ia
coma. He know the mountain as Rainier. and
dreamed OF no association Of 1t with the name OF
his town site.
Northern Pacific officials acquired his lands,
and declared their intention to bring every city
in the Northwest to the feet Of the City Of
Destiny. Mount Rainier was invaluable to their
literature, and in the late seventies they made
the association moro direct by changing its
name to Tacoma.
Their justification was that certain whites
had said that certain dead Indians had said that
tho mountain had been known in their tribe by
a name which was variously rendered ms Ia
ho-ma, Tacoba, and other forms less like Ia
coma. 1t is not even asserted that those names
are now in use by any tribe. or that tho word
Tacoma was ever 80 used.
The argument was never for retention, but for
q change. The foreign name should be dis
placed by q native word, which thoy declared
was almost tho same as ono which was applied
to the mountain by one Of tho Indian tribes
which surround it. This latter assertion 10
fatty denied by every ono who Is at all familiar
with the early history Of the stets, and not d,
may be conceded. That the historic argument
ing scheme was sufficiently shown when these
same influences demanded the admission Of our
territory as tho State or Tacoma without
any pretence of reason eXCept that thew wished
In that matter the dog soon managed to keep
the tail quiet. Later the Board on Geographic
Names decided neither to embark in the town site
business nor change all existing chartography
More recently the Northern Pacific has with.
drawn the name Mount Tacoma from all it's
noting this fact. has very sensibly summed tho
case up as a hard fight, finally settled and hon
Yet In your issue of Aug. 8 you ask whether
it is Rainier or Tacoma =, and answer that In
retaining the former our Board on Geographic
such cases. You certainly know that Il e not
the custom OF any society to s%upplant any uni
solely on the ground of it's aboriginality. Such
a proposition rcfutes itself. Nearly every peak
a European name, yet each has had from one to
a hundred Indian titles. Why don't they dis
place the former and retain the lattori
Canadian Pacific Railway interests would be
advanced by, the changci The truth is. our
! hulIOIlllfS, Ill OlltTS, IhNOT HIlN nHDleB
for new discoveries and in cases where there is
some question AS TO priority or preponderance
OF usage, and you have expressed that fact very
partially and unfairly.
Equally misleading is your pretendedly gen.
erous admission that Rainier appears in many
Of the best aliases. This means. as plainly as
words can say, that in as many or more 1t does
not appear. have never been able to find one
such atlas.
You complain Of some impatient phrases
from a Seattle CORRESPONDENT. then refer to all
tense local prejudice" and " petty chickering's Of
rival communities Is defence of the historic
name of one of natures grandest monuments
petty pickering 2 Seattle never offered her
name as a substitute, and the community
whose prejudice" she represents Is the world,
less Tacoma and those recently deceived by her
preteDsiUnS.
II Minneapolis. alleging only recent and local
Indian evidence. should flood the East with lit
erature in which old Mississippi was new
dubbed MINNEAPOLIS River, would the roar rising
tense local prejudice T. II a steamboat man
from the Windy City should plaster Europe with
pictures OF Niagara labelled Chicago Falls"
and thousands ignorantly took the bait, should
boards on geographic names at once cut the cat
aract in halves and give one to Chicago as q re-
ward OF Cffrontcry
Or suppose the new journalism should provo
by the evidence OF natives, OF long-established
dece.se that the Aztecs knew the Hudson as
Pulitzer Chuck, and we sons OF the West who
never saw 1t, and therefore knew all about it,
nous. would your desire to avoid local preju-
dice and petty pickering" insure your ST.
lencef
Or is it just. possible that you would clutch
never let, go till the sun had set on the last
That would be your duty. We did 1t, and the
are out of the fight. Rest assured the tail will
continue to receive our undivided attention.
SHELTON. Wash, Aug. Ii. O.. F. MOONEY