Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-25
SpeciaI to The Tribune.

l. Sy
Of the geographic names for Montana
ne corrected and recently published IN
q 4 report of the United States Geo
\ kphic board. Among the changes to
Il hich he objects, the changing Of the
4 ine of Little Big Horn river to
+ Little Horn river" he claims is un-
n srranted. If the apparently incon-
4 x2stent designation of Little Big
Horn" is to be done away with, Mr..
Sanders suggests that the river be
called Clusters river" the name given
It BY the territorial legislative assem-
bly, in 1877.
Mr.. Sanders statement in full con-
cerning Montana nomenclature follows:
'.The article in The Great Falls Iri-
hume, issue of December 1S, entitled
Correct Geographic Nomenclature for
Montana taken from the report OF the
United States Geographic board for the
current year, is very interesting and It
seems a pity that among SO much good
work a few mistakes, so far as Mon
tana is concerned, should be imposed
upon us, and / call early attention to
Them in the hope that they may be
corrected in future ANIMALS.
t"'I have not examined the volume
referred to, nor am / acquainted with
tie personnel of the board but have
the utmost confidence in its desire to
jnstify the action of President Harrison
ifl their appointment.
Why Mistakes Are Unfortunate
From the order of the president OF
September 4, 1890, it appears that the
purpose of the board in the matter
mentioned was to secure uniformity ID
regard to geographic nomenclature and
orthography throughout the executive
departm of the government, which
is all right and the order mentioned
does not seem to endeavor to be bind
ing beyond that. But the order goes
on to provide that the action of the
board shall be adopted and perpe1uated
and accepted by these departments as
the standard authority in such matters.
Further, it provides that the deci,,
sions of the board shall be followed
particularly upon the maps and charts
issued by the various departments and
bureaus. We are all inclined to place
the utmost confidence in and to rely
implicitly on the maps and charts Of
the government in such matters and
that is right and for that reason these
mistakes are the more unfortunate.
.If the decisions here made were
from some bureau OF the postoffice
department for the convenience of that
department in controlling the names OF
it's postofices and discouraging the use
of names of two and three words
which we revere, would submit, and
/ may submit anyway, but the board
seems to have determined important
questions Of our nomenclature for the
convenience Of the departments and
without consulting thu, people who
first fastened geographic names, to
nlaces in our state and which, unless
there are very important reasons,
should be controlling and be perpetu-
ated.
II believe that Montana has the
longest name for it's postoffice at
White Sulphur Springs of any in the
country and with three other offices
of the same name in other states there
has never been to my mind any obJec-
tion to it and DO one would suggest its
change, but in the volume reviewed are
to my mind some changes which should
not stand.
mences by following Clark Fork from
its source near Butte through the
counties Of Silver Bow, Deer Lodge,
Powell, Granite, Missoula and Sanders
end through the panhandle OF Idaho
1ntO Wishing LOu, HACiC ~
the Columbia river. would be. glad
81 this name or some other could be
adopted which would be accepted by all
through it's length as the names which
are applied to various sections of the
stream are confusing and uniformity
ehould be enforced. The fact that these
various sections were formerly called
the Bitterroot, the Clarke, the Deer
Lodge. the Hell Gate, the Missoula, the
Silverbow river, although | always
heard it called Silverbow creek, should
be recognized, and stated in the flnal
record.
AN of the names recorded are
familiar to me but in many cases
am not sufficiently advised to SPEAK
with authority on the subject but there
are a few to which / would like to
raise objections and will name them
Old "DoDetown''
"In the alphabetical arrangement, We
early come across the following de-
cree of the board:
"'ADOBE: Town; Madison county
Montana (Not Adobetownl:'
''There has been no postofflce at thl'
place for years and how many people
five there at present do not knew, st
that the above order is apparently fol
tbe convenience Of the departm ents but
the original name should be permitted
Ia attach to that live town of the earl.
COS and what is left of it for sucl
il was known at the time of its pros
perity and as such it will be remem
hered by the few survivors who hvet
there when Alder Gulch had 30OO(
busy people between Junction and Sum
nit (among them I recall Mrs. A. II
Epperson of Belt) and as such We viii
remember it and as such it viii b.
known as long as Alder Gulch is known
and no one should press this abbrevia
tion Of the nam.. OF course, the name
was taken from the Guehty Of the hricl
of which many of the buildings Of tn.
town were constructed. True in tn.
palmv days Of the ssct:an we 5id no
pronounce the initial "A and called i
Dobetown but when it was written /
was written entire. If the edict of tht
board must stand the parenthetica
note (Not Adobetown) should be cor
rected to (Formerly Adobetown).
Why "Bannack" Should Remain
Next ] come to:
'BANNOCK: Precinct and village
Beaverhead county, Mont. (Not Ban
mack, Bannack City nor Bannock City,
II do not believe that the postoffic,
department of the United States rec
ognizes this order today but that tn
postoffice is Bannack or Bannack City
Neither is there any occasion or reasol
to change the name of the first capita
of Montana. I appeal to the proclama
ton of Governor Sidney Edgerton o
Nnvemher 70 1874 DESIGNATING th,