The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-06-12
CHANGING THE NAME
OF SNAKE RIVER

toudk6 TlFtI, Lu0 IodSOu d5SlSucU LII
it being that a snake is repulsive and
carries an unpleasant thought with
even the mention of it, Added to
this there seems to be the influence
that in order to get homeseekers to
come and see our superior resources,
it will be of some advantage to elm
mate the disagreeable name which
is supposed to impress them with the
idea that it is country infested
with snakes, while as a matter of
fact there are very few. we believe
the foregoing two sentences carry
all of the reasons heretofore set forth
for making the change, and those
suggesting that the name of Snake
be discarded are not offering very at
tractive names from which to select
a substitute.
Some of the difficulties to be en-
countered in changing geographic
names may be seen from a review of
what has been done before in such
matters.
More than thirty years ago the
people of Eagle Rock took the legal
steps to discard the name of their
town and christen 1t Idaho Falls. 1t
was a move of the real estate in
terests desiring to create a boom,
and it was vigorously advertised as
a new town. If we remember cor
rectly they first laid out a new adj
dition on the east side of the rail-
road and applied the new name to
that, the population being only a
handful Then they took the legal
step to have the name apply to the
old town, and thereby increased the
population in the first year by con-
siderable. This was made the basis
for very clever advertising showing
how rapidly the town was growing,
and that aroused the interest of dis
tant people and made it easier to
sell city lots. 1t was contended that
the old name was disagreeable or
too long, the two were about alike
in length, the impression made, and
ease of pronunciation, the old name
being a little easier. Therefore it
was purely commercial affair, back
ed by determination to make bust
ness and money out of the change.
For a while it was necessary to
use the name, Idaho Falls, formerly
Eagle Rock" In deeds, abstracts
and other legal documents that form
had to be used and for ten years
or so 1t ran thru the records almost
constantly. AS people came to know
something of Idaho Falls, the ex-
PLANTATION of Eagle Rock could be
left of without eliciting the inquiry
as to where it was.
In changing the name of Snake :
river it would probably make some !
special clause necessary in deeds and
abstracts for fifty or hundred years,
but it would be easily done. Snake
river use to be known as Lewis
river, and the biographies of forty
years ago were printing it Lewis or
Snake river
1t is a fixed policy of the American
people to take the land from the
Indians but to retain the Indian
names, they being more beautiful
and significant than our own lang
uage affords. We have the long
name Mississippi, Connecticut, Sus-
quehanna, Tallahassee, and others
that are easy to say because we
have grown up with them. Then
there are others, such as Androscog-
gin, Kushkoquim, Snohomish, Sno-
qualmie and others not so easily said [
but holding their own. In Alaska
we have some names in the native
tongue which in our own language
are forbidden by good manners, but
which still have their places on the
maps and in use by the sparse popu-
lation of the territory and no effort
being made to change them.
On the boundary line between L
Maine and New Hampshire is a river a
which the Biographies of forty or S
fifty years ago printed as Piscataqua, a
and later printed as Salmon Falls i
or PiscataQua river indicating that
an effort was being made to change
it. Down to comparatively few years il
ago both names were used, but the
latest maps indicate 1t simply as Sal |,
mon river. 1t seems to have been at
least third of century in chang g
ing, and it seems to have at least h
two good reasons for being changed. L
In the State of Washington is a il
lofty peak called by the Indians,
Tacoma" meaning "The Mountain. c
The country was stolen from the d
Indians and both the British and the
Americans sought to possess it. s
There was a British commander who Il
himself in the Revolu- s.
.ionary war fighting the Americans, IL
and his name, Rainier was applied h
by the British to the lofty peak, Ct
he territory which they were seek p
ng to hold thru the activities of the II
Hudson Bay company, and which p
he Americans were claiming under tt
he slogan "Fifty-four forty or fight it
The Americans were given the land n
n which this peak rested, and for a
,eventy-eight years the name of Mt. e
Rainier has held at least partial O
recognition in the country of the OPP p
position, and in the face of the effort o
# the Americans themselves to r;
secure the use of the original Indian tt
word Tacoma, and the banishing of tt
he name of the naval officer who p
ought u.s. The two names seem to e.
,e getting along on about the fifty
fifty basis. O.
About the year 1886 when there il
vas tremendous land boom in CT
Kansas and Nebraska and also l
great stream of population going to R
Oregon and Washington by rail and a.
~ overland means, the Rogue river "
ro1I in, nrn or