Geographical names - M - Transcript (part 5).
Date
1951
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNKNOWN
Abstract
"Mount Rainier, the highest mountain in the state of Washington in the southeastern part of Pierce county. Elevation 14,408 feet (U. S. Geological Survey in Edmond S. Meany's Mount Rainier...) The mountain was discovered Tuesday, May 8, 1972 by Captain George Vancouver and named by him in honor of Rear Admiral Peter Rainier of the British Navy (Voyage of Discovery, second edit. Vol II, Page 79) as related above, see Mount Adams, Hall J. Kelley sought to name the peaks for presidents of the United States. He did not disturb the name of Mount Rainier but his scheme was expanded by J. Quinn Thornton who proposed to place the name of President William Henry Harrison on that mountain (Oregon and California 1849, Vol I, Page 316) In 1853 Theodore Winthrop declared the Indian name of the mountain to be Tacoma (The Canoe and Saddle 1862, page 43-45 and 123-176) The author there frequently mentions Tacoma which he says was a generic name among the Indians for all snow mountains. For that reason he called Mount Adams Tacoma the Second. Later a city developed on Commencement Bay with the name of Tacoma. As that city grew and became ambitious there arose an agitation to change the name of Mount Rainier to the Winthrop name of Mount Tacoma. The controversy continued for many years....The U. S. Geographic Board has rendered two decisions in the case, both in favor of Mount Rainier. The first was in 1890 and the second in 1917...Dr. William Fraser Tolmie of the Hudson's Bay company had written in his diary May 31, 1833, that the Indians called the mountain Puskehouse."
Description
14 page typed transcription, created by Click Relander.