Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-09
rs Pittsburgh spelled with final Z

/ or nnal n
Suppose the question comes up as a
wager. Where would we turn to find the
correct answer? In other words, is there
an authority to whom we could apply for
a statement that would be final?
| Here In Washington there is a group
of fifteen men representing all the de-
apartments of the government which have
| to deal with geography, whose word IN
this respect is considered law. They con-
stitute what is officially known as the
United States geographic board. in
reality the court of last resort for dis
puted geographic names. What they say
of the names of places in the United
States. the spelling of those names. the
use of hyphens and other marks is final
and we must use them as the board
dictates if we wish to be considered
correct.
+ K
| Thus if We wish to decide the wager
concerning Pittsburgh's terminal letter we
turn to the boards official report and
read that the city of Pittsburgh was
cha rtered in 1916, its name being spelled
without the III: that the n appears
to have been added by the Post Office
1
action that local usage appears to have
become divided Some newspapers print
it Pittsburg, while some use Pittsburgh.
| but the board, after weighing all the
details. has decided that the clty's name
shall terminate with an n
The board was established in Septem-
| Der, 1890. because 1T was desirable that
uniform usage in regard to geographical
nomenclature and photography Obtain
| throughout the executive departments OF
the government and particularly upon
the maps and charts issued by the
various departments and bureaus. All
unsettled questions concerning geo
era phical names which arose in the de-
partments We're to be referred to the
| board and the decisions rendered by II
were to be regarded as standards.
| The board had its powers increased
| later on by President Roosevelt, who
added the duties of determining. chane-
| ing and fixing the names OF places IN
the United States and insular possessions,
and thereafter all such names were re-
ferred to the board before publication.
/ When the board was first created by
! President Harrison its membership num-
| bered ten. Later it was increased to nj
/ teen The terms of service have always
/ been indefinite. the members being select
I ed SO as to represent every department
4 of the government which publishes the
| names of places in the United States.
/ In order to administer its affairs the
i
/ tary together with an executive commit
| tee of five members. Dr. Henry Gannett
/ of the geological survey at present oil
| reefs the business of the board assisted
/ by Charles s. Sloane of the census bu-
J reau.
| The present official organization came
| into existence because it was seen to be a
| much needed body. Prior to its forma-
| ton there was an unofficial organization
4 of ten members, who represented each
| department of the government. What
| they found concerning the geographical
| names of places In the United States
| was a condition of chaos that brought
! dispute chaos because they found sew
eral names and several different ways of
! spelling dispute because each department
/ would not recognize the authority of the
| others in prescribing particular form of
| spelling.
| In fact, there was no estab llShed au-
| thority. and government publications
| came out with spellings of several ways
| for the same place. One of the greatest
instances of this kind is the name of the
! village of Sinsinawa, in Wisconsin, There
| are ten different ways of spelling this
name, which also produce the same pro-
/ nunciation. In the government pubilca-
| tions it is seen in six different ways.
while the Post Office Department uses
1 another one-half the population another,
differing also from that used by the other
/ half. and the railroad company comes IN
| with still another style.
| If a state or county is to be named, the
/ legislative body of that state bestoWs
| those names, while for municipalities the
! state gives the name used in the charter.
| But the board is now left an entirely free
! hand in naming the places of lesser i'm
| portance. Heretofore uncharted bodies
of citizens. rivers, lakes and mountains
and various other features received their
names from several sources.
Thus what is now known as the Wet
mountains in Colorado was originally
the Cuerno Verde mountains. The
original name was given by Spanish
explorers because the mountains were
green. After the treaty the name was
translated into English and the noun
tains became known as Greenhorn.
Later on they were called the Wet
mountains. because there was so much
moisture connected with them, and the
name became so general in use that
the board adopted 1t as the official one.
Thus the former names of places in our
country came from explorers. early
settlers, surveyors. the Post Office De
partment and the railroads. Hence.
those who had to deal with the con-
ditions became keenly alive to the need
of some authority.
X
The task of the present board has
been enormous. and it has taken about
a score of years to bring order out OF
chaos. The policy of the board is to
establish the name of a place which
has been most used. locally. where it
has seemed impossible to depart from
the corrupted use, and return to the
original. Thus it is considered impos-
sible to change from Port Townshend,
the original name of Port Townsend
Pysht to Psyche, Ozan to Aux Anes,
or Low Freight to L'eau Frais.
The latest orders of the President
give the board authority. so far as
government usage is concerned. to ex-
anime newly discovered features and
decide upon their names There may
be half dozen names proposed by
parties interested in particular place.
What is considered the most appro-
pirate, therefore, becomes the author
ity.
The board has adopted the plan of
| naming places suggested by the local
peculiarities taken from the topo-
graphic or physical formation, the
vegetation or animal life Thus what
are known as the Hedges are straits
connecting Tangier sound with Chesa-
peake bay. Formerly they were mis-
4 Hal Il