After research revealed that Yellowstone was the country’s first national parks, it is now renaming one its largest mountains in honor of Indigenous people.
Officials announced that the mountain, which was formerly known as Mount Doane, is now First Peoples Mountain.
It is a victory, yes. Is history being rewritten, and retold honestly? NPR’s William Snell, executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, said that he hoped so. His group provided advice to federal officials regarding the name change.
Snell wrote in an email that the decision to change First Peoples Mountain was made at the perfect time, as Yellowstone officials are preparing for the park’s anniversary this August.
The peak aEUR” along a range on the eastern side of Yellowstone Lake aEUR” had been named after Gustavus Doane, who helped lead the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition in 1870 that ultimately led to the park getting federal protection.
Recent historians discovered that Doane was involved in an attack against a Piegan Blackfeet band, which left at least 173 Native Americans killed. Doane was responsible for the Marias Massacre. According to the National Park Service, Doane wrote favorable reviews of the attack and even boasted about it for the rest his life.
It is part of a growing trend to recognize Native Americans’ contributions and roles. It is also a priority for the nation’s first Indigenous cabinet Secretary aEUR”, Deb Haaland from the Interior Department, who oversees National Park Service aEUR”, and Charles Sams III (the first Native American to be appointed that agency’s director).
Many iconic mountains and other places in the American West were named after early white settlers. These settlers included men with complicated pasts.
Yellowstone park officials said they might consider making further changes to the derogatory and inappropriate names of Yellowstone’s geographies in the coming months.
