The Cordova daily times., 1922-05-09
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1922
KEEP THE INDIAN NAMES

There's talk of asking the new City Council to name one of the principal streets "Hard- ing Avenue" in honor of the Chief Executive and his forthcoming visit, and another for Gen eral Pershing There $ much local sentiment, too, in favor of remaining many of the Alaskan places, as fast as possible, giving American hero names to the towns, camps, rivers lakes, bays. mountains n everything, in place ot the hard -to-spell and outlandish Indian and Rus sian names which mean nothing to Americans, either in Alaska or outside.-( (Cordova Imes)
 Of course there is no objection to changing the names of streets or to giving them names for such distinguished Americans as President Harding and General Pershing. There is no reason either why new towns, unless they are nearby geographical names that suggest dlt- ferentlv, should not bear the names of Amerl- can patriots and statesmen But let us not sacrifice our Indian names. The best Amerl- can nomenclature is that which we have re- tained from the oborigines.
 We have had few if any greater Americans than Franklin, and few if any possess names more euphonious, yet how we'll pleased citizens of Tennessee should be that the second thought of those pioneers who first pushed their way across the AIleghannies caused them to dls- card the name of the great prnter-statesman and retain for their commonwealth the Indian name. And so with the other States, Kentucky Alabama, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota the Dakotas Idaho, Utah and the others-how much greater the Individuality and more ap- propriate than would have been Jefferson, Adams Madison, Hamilton, Greens, Gates, Monore and Jackson. And likewise with our cities. The names that please most are those which come from the Indans-Chicago, De- troit, Milwaukee, Omaha, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma and even Kalamazo, Kankakee and Keokuk. Who is there who does not prefer Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan and the connectiuct, Susquehanna, Alleghany, Mon ongahela, Ohio, Wabash, Mississippi, Missouri, Yukon and Panama rivers to our Rainier, Baker, Hood, Whitney and Mitchell mount aims?
 Let us retain our Indian names in Alaska. They are the best we have. Our Sitka, Ketchi- kan Skagways, Kodiaks, Katallas, Nenanas, etc., are our most fortunately named towns. They go well with Alaska, one of our very best Indian names.
 Of course exceptions may appropriately be made in case of pioneer settlers and explorers and those who have been identified in a large way with the particular country that confers the honor. For instance, there is something appropriate in the nomenclature that has come from honoring Columbus, Hudson, La Salle, Boone, Carson, Houston, Vancouver, Cook, Gray and other explorers and pioneers. They were all identified in a geographical way with the places that honoed them. It is appropriate that Missouri has Jefferson City for her cap- itl and that we have a Jefferson River, be- cause of Jefferson's connection with the Louis jana purchase. It is appropriate that we have in the North a Seward in honor of the man who purchased Alaska as well as Juneau a Haines and McQuesten River in honor of pioneers-Juneau Empire.