Renamed or Restored? Decades Long Fight Ends in a Name Change for America’s Tallest Peak

Since 1896, America’s tallest peak has been known as Mt. McKinley. The origin of that name is borderline folklore. Per the New York Times,

“A Gold prospector who had just emerged from…the Alaska Range heard that Mr. McKinley had won the Republican Presidential Nomination, and declared that the tallest peak should be named in his honor.”

William McKinley died in 1901 and never saw it with his own eyes, let alone summited the 20,310-foot peak. This week, the President used an executive order to fix what McKinley historian Lewis Gould called “a historical accident,” and made official a name change that native Alaskans have been awaiting for nearly a century.

Before 1896, the native Athabascans who lived in the area for millennia knew the peak as Denali. The name translates to “the great one.” Alaska’s current

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), spurred the action of renaming, and even Alaska’s favorite freewheeling former governor, Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), referred to the mountain as Denali in a speech. Despite what appears to be partisan division, the outspoken critics of the renaming are mostly Ohio politicians and a smattering of Republicans accusing President Obama of executive overreach.

Other criticism is that the change is symbolic and does nothing of significance for anyone involved. It is reminiscent of the recent removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house. Racism is not over as a result of that removal, just as hundreds of years of damage done to natives in the US will not be undone by restoring the original name of a mountain. However, it is a step in the right direction.

 Laurentian Alea Robinson ’17 is an Alaskan local herself who has a strong opinion on the renaming.

“Growing up in Alaska my whole life, my family and I have always called ‘Mt. McKinley’ Denali,” she says. “It fosters a sense of pride among the native Alaskans and many other inhabitants of Alaska. I am really excited that the original name has been rightfully re-established.”

In addition to Robinson, another community member and planner for St. Lawrence County, Matilda Larson, says:

“You can distinguish locals by whether or not they call the mountain Denali.”

It appears that in giving Denali back its real name, almost everyone wins, especially the people who call Alaska “home.”