The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-11-25
An Old Fraud Revived.

s. An Old Fraud Revived.
sIn the dun season which has followed
the close Of the political campaign the
Tacoma Ledger. aided byNa Seattle paper
has attempted TO revive the icng-settied
controversy as TO whether the name OF
the great mountain which dominates the
Cascade range should be Tacoma or Raj
nier. After strenuous campaign. last
Ing for more than twenty years. ths at
tempt 20 force this manufactured name
upon the reading public has been spDar-
entity definitely abandoned by all except
u small coterie OF Tacoma people.
Without any desire to engage In a con-
trovcrsy. but simply in the interests OF
historical accuracy, the facts In connee-
tfon with this attempt to use the grand
est mountain on the American continent
for advertising purposes by band of
townsite boomers are recalled. Prior to
the location OF the terminus OF the NORTH
ern Pacific railroad upon the blum above
Commencement bay. some miles distant
from any human habisation. not a single
one OF the twenty-five or thirty thousand
inhabitants OF the territory OF Washing
ron had ever heard the name Tacoma APP
piled to the mountain. or 20 anything
save little hamlet. where Hanson. Ack-
erson a Co had established a sawmin
some years before
The origin OF the name "a briefly a.
follows: In 1853 Theodore Winthrop paid
fying visit to Puget sound, on hts way
home after some months spent on the
isthmus OF Panama. In iss5 he published
a hook entitled ''rsnoe and Saddle" pur-
porting 10 describe his travels along the
Pacific coast. IN which n very largo
amount o. romantic and imaginative mat
tor was mixed up with moaicnm az
fact Among other things 20 which he
referred in that book was his vlsit to
Puget sound ana. for purely ilierary pur-
poses. he invented legend entirely
sroersphAl. and not Intended 70 be
taken seriously. that the Puget sound
Indians called Mosnt Rainisr "rahoma."
a. a matter Of fact. the Puget sound
Indians never called Mount Rainier or
any other mountain by any name NJ ait
Baker Is a much more conspicuous natural
object 20 the Indians OF the lower Sound
than Is Rainier. yea no one ever heard
~ ANY Indian name FOR Baker; nor Tor
Hood or ~, Heiens, or jefferson. or
asy ether mountain peak IN the Cascades
Moreover. tho ~fghtes, familiarity with
iAe languages spoken ~ the rsses sound
aeegisinee would have shown the utter
inposslhiiisy % saeh name es Tehona
ever having been pronounced hy hfsy ore
q them. Tnosc Indian Dialects are a com
biaation ef hi~ses. clicks and gniturals.
wfth an alfaou cnsira elimination 81 rawst
sounds IRE Indian names which remain
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