SOei'lZ-NVT'lVd 
 
 1 
 
 A "N 'aSHDEJA^ 
 
 1: 
 
 sja^iBK 
 
 ■ : 
 
 •SOJfl pjOJ^Bf) 
 
 1 
 
iiiiii 
 
 ^"^ 6 IQt7 
 
 BEFOEE THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOAED 
 
 m THE MATTER OF THE 
 
 0f iinunt Satnto 
 
 -^^.^\t-ii£. 
 
 Statement of Charles Tallmadge Conover 
 
 REPRESENTING NUMEROUS CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF 
 
 AVASHINGTON IN FAVOR OF RETAINING THE PRESENT 
 
 NAME, AND ORAL PRESENTATION BY C. T. 
 
 CONOVER AND VICTOR J. FARRAR 
 
 ®If^ i^rtBtnn 
 
 m\ 
 
 Q 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/beforeunitedstatOOunitrich 
 
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOARD 
 
 IX THE MATTER OF THE 
 
 at Mmnt Satuto 
 
 Statement of Charles Tallmadge Conover 
 
 REPRESENTING NUMEROUS CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF 
 
 WASHINGTON IN FAVOR OF RETAINING THE PRESENT 
 
 NAME, AND ORAL PRESENTATION BY C. T. 
 
 CONOVER AND VICTOR J. FARRAR 
 
 
P- 1 J 
 
This hearing is held in compliance with a Joint-memorial of the legisla- 
 ture of the state of Washington petitioning your Honorable Body to substitute 
 for the name Mount Rainier the most appropriate name that you may select 
 after having given a hearing to those who may desire to present evidence. The 
 original joint-memorial which passed the house and was killed in the senate on 
 a point of order as to its form and by ridicule was in these words : 
 
 In the House '■' By Mr. Elliott. 
 
 I|0«H^ Qlnttrurr^nt S^aoUtttnn Nn. 8 
 
 STATE OF WASHINGTON 
 
 FIFTEENTH REGULAR SESSION 
 
 January 15, 1917, read first and second time, ordered printed, and referred to 
 Committee on Memorials. 
 
 Relating to Changing the Name of Mount Rainier 
 
 To the Honorable, the Members of the Geographic Board of the United 
 States. Sirs : 
 
 Whereas. The name of the great mountain peak of the Cascade 
 range, situate in the State of Washington, is a matter of unending contro- 
 versy among the citizens thereof, many of whom (and these for the most 
 part among those most closely associated with it) always havR refused and 
 still refuse to call it by the official designation Eainier, but insist that a 
 name by which it was known to the aborigines is in every way more appro- 
 priate; and 
 
 Whereas, The reason given by these citizens for said refusal, that the 
 name Eainier was bestowed by the so-called discoverer, Vancouver, an 
 Englishman, to honor a friend of his in the English navy, one Peter Rai- 
 nair, who never saw the mountain nor had any other association with it 
 whatever such as would entitle him to such honor and distinction, and 
 that, instead, said Rainier at the time of the American Revolution, when 
 we were fighting for liberty, was actively engaged as an enemy against us 
 and was effective in harassing and destroying our ships of commerce, it 
 being a matter of history that he captured and carried away the ship Polly 
 from the American coast — these reasons, set forth in a petition signed by 
 a considerable number of the citizens of this State and submitted to this 
 Legislature seem' to us reasonable and to form substantial cause upon 
 which to base this memorial to your honorable body, we therefore respect- 
 ively submit these following facts for your consideration, namely: 
 
 (1) That the name Rainier is objectionable for the reason here 
 already set forth; and 
 
 (2) That it has been a subject of constant criticism by publicists 
 from the country at large and has subjected the citizens of this State to 
 humilitation through reflection upon their taste and patriotism; and 
 
 (3) That it is well known to be the custom in this and other coun- 
 
 361956 
 
tries to give preference to local and a.borigina.l names for natural physical 
 objects where euphony permits, and that this custom, dictated by good 
 taste and proper sentiment, is here grossly violated; and 
 
 (•i) That the aboriginal name for this mountain is euphonious, 
 meaningful and peculiarly appropriate and should be given preference on 
 these merits without regard to the no less peculiarly inappropriate and 
 unfortunate character of the name now officially applied; and 
 
 (5) This peak being the most stately and altogether imposing nat- 
 ural monument on this continent, and situate in the State called Wash- 
 ington, should not be given over to the honor of an enemy of our country — 
 one who fought to prevent our securing freedom and independence. 
 
 For these reasons we respectfully petition your honorable body to 
 substitute for the name Tiainier the most appropriate of the several varia- 
 tions of the aboriginal name, and that you select this name after having 
 given a hearing to those who may desire to present evidence as to what that 
 name is as applied by the various tribes of this region, and who have always 
 looked and still look t-o the mountain with awe and reverence, as to God. 
 
 And we will ever pray. 
 
 NOT THE SENTIMENT OF THE STATE 
 
 Throughout the entire campaign which has been waged for more than two 
 years to secure such action by the legislature of Washington, Rainier's nation- 
 ality and the fact that he had served in some minor capacity in the Revolu- 
 tionary War was the chief motive urged. Ever}- member of both houses was 
 personally visited weeks and months before the convening of the legislature 
 and pledged, if possible, to vote for such a memorial. The argument advanced 
 was so generally ridiculed throughout the state that it was finally abandoned in 
 the memorial that passed. 'Jliis ridicule was emphasized by memorials intro- 
 duced to change the name of Mount Baker to Mount Bellingham, Mount St. 
 Helens to Mount Chehalis, Mount Hood to Mount Portland, Puget Sound to 
 Seattle Sound, etc., various communities apparently desiring to have named 
 for them for advertising purposes the great natural features nearest to them 
 respectively, reciting that they had all been named for men at one time enemies 
 of this country, and British. 
 
 ]?ef erring to the present hearing and confirmatory of the fact that the 
 movement for a change of name is not expressive of the sentiment of the state, 
 the following extract from the Seattle Fost-InteUigencer, April 21, 1917, is 
 quoted : 
 
 "Within a few days the United States Geographic Board will con- 
 sider the proposal to change the name of Mount Rainier, and a move- 
 ment that received no inconsiderable part of its impetus as a jest will 
 become a decidedly serious matter. The question of changing the name 
 of the mountain has been discussed so long and with so much vehemence 
 
on the part of the good people of Tacoma that the rest of the State until 
 now has ceased to take it seriously. 
 
 "When the Tacoma boosters made their drive at the legislature 
 this year many newspapers saw an opportunity to have some interurban 
 fun. Much to the astonishment of the jocular press, the necessary for- 
 malities were achieved in the legislature and the Tacoma proposal is 
 about to be given serious consideration." 
 
 After the original memorial had been killed amid a wave of ridicule, the 
 following was substituted and finally passed: 
 
 Btmtt 3l0tnt memorial No- 14 
 
 To the Honorable, the Members of the Geographic Board of the United States : 
 
 Your memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectively repre- 
 sent that. 
 
 Whereas, The name of the great mountain peak of the Cascade 
 Range, situate in the State of Washington, is a matter of unending con- 
 troversy among the citizens thereof, many of whom always have refused 
 and still refuse to call it by the official designation "Rainier", 
 
 Wherefore, Your memorialists respectfully petition your honorable 
 body to substitute for the name "Rainier" the most appropriate name that 
 you may select after having given a hearing to those who may desire to 
 present evidence as to what that name should be. , 
 
 And we will ever pray. 
 
 The action of the legislature in passing this memorial in no way repre- 
 sents the sentiment of the State of Washington. The campaign referred to 
 met with no organized opposition because it was not considered possible that 
 this Honorable Board would reverse a judgment rendered more than twenty- 
 six years ago, after a thorough and complete investigation of the subject; and 
 to ask it to do so seemed to the people of the state at large as impertinent as 
 it would be to ask the supreme court of the United States to reverse a judgment 
 previously given. 
 
 The people of the state at large had little chance to oppose that memorial. 
 They had no concerted agency to combat the ambitions of the city of Tacoma 
 and had no realization of the fact that the ground had been prepared for such 
 action by the legislature. 
 
 POLITICAL PRESSURE 
 
 Attention is called to the affidavit of William Bishop, born in the County 
 of Jetferson, State of Washington, the son of a full-blooded Indian mother and 
 he a member of the present House of Representatives of the State of Wash- 
 ington from the County of Jefferson and member for the past ten years, 
 particularly these words : 
 
 5 
 
"That, knowing the facts and circumstances in this matter, he op- 
 posed the passage of the joint memorial in the last session of the state 
 legislature and unqualifiedly states that the real sentiment of both houses 
 was opposed to the passage of the memorial asking for the change in this 
 name ; that its passage was secured through the powerful influence of the 
 speaker of the house, who was from Tacoma, and the president of the 
 senate, who was from Tacoma. Their influence, through the chairmen 
 of the various committees, whom they had appointed, absolutely con- 
 trolled. That the passage of said memorial was somewhat facilitated by 
 the argument -that Rainier was an Englishman and had been an enemy 
 of this country," 
 
 MUCH FORMER EVIDENCE NOT NOW AVAILABLE 
 
 From the time of Vancouver's discovery and naming of Moimt Rainier to 
 the present day this mountain has been officially known as Rainier on all charts 
 and publications of the United States Government and of the governments of 
 :the civilized world, and by the people of the world, excepting only those of 
 one county in the State of Washington. The judgment of the Geographic 
 Board has likewise been accepted by the entire world outside of the one county 
 referred to. It is impossible at this late date to present any new evidence or 
 anything like the first hand evidence that was available when the previous hear- 
 ing by th Honorable Board was held more than twenty-six years ago, for the 
 reason that the majority of the pioneers who knew the facts at first hand have 
 passed away. The reason advanced for the change, that the name Rainier 
 honored an Englishman who had been an enemy of this countr}-, we respect- 
 fully submit has no bearing whatever. 
 
 WHAT A CHANGE WOULD LEAD TO 
 
 To carry this to a logical conclusion would necessitate changing the names 
 bestowed by Vancouver on practically all the physical features in the Pacific 
 Northwest and the names of countless numbers of mountains, rivers, cities and 
 natural features throughout the nation, as well as the rechristening of several 
 of the original thirteen colonies. At this time when we are allied with the great 
 British nation in a fight for world freedom, a change of name based on such an 
 argument could not fail to be construed as an unfriendly act and would be a 
 flagrant offense against national honor and good faith. If it were possible lo 
 conceive of the National Geographic Board taking such action on such grounds, 
 it would inevitably follow that we should have to replace all historic Spanish 
 names with others for the reason that we have since had a war with Spain, and 
 as we are now in a conflict with Germany, we should likewise be obliged to ob- 
 literate all geographic names of German origin, as Bismarck, Berlin, and many 
 others. The matter appears too ridiculous for discussion and was happily omit- 
 ted from the final memorial, although it was the sole motive urged for the 
 passage of said memorial. We cite the leaflet submitted herewitli signed by 
 
seventeen prominent citizens of Tacoma, headed by the mayor, and entitled, 
 "For Justice to the Mountain", particularly this extract : 
 
 "That a petition be circulated in Seattle and Tacoma and throughout 
 the state, asking the Geographic Board at Washington to renounce the 
 name Rainier and adopt in its stead one of the various forms of the Indian 
 name * * * for the reason that Rainier, for whom Vancouver named 
 the mountain, was an enemy of our country and fought against us when 
 we were struggling for our liberty, and that to honor him with such a 
 monument — the most majestic single peak on earth — is extremely offensive 
 to the patriotic feeling of a people living in the state called Washington", 
 etc. 
 
 It will be noted that the same leaflet goes to the length of quoting a mem- 
 ber of this Bpard as favoring a change of name on the same ground. 
 
 Happily the right of Mount Rainier, the most sublime single scenic fea- 
 ture in the United States, to tlie name of Rainier and no other is conclusive 
 and incontrovertible. 
 
 RAINIER'S TITLE UNASSAILABLE 
 
 "The weather was serene and pleasant and the country con- 
 tinued to exhibit between us and the eastern snowy range the 
 same luxurious appearance. At its northern extremity Mount 
 Baker bore by compass N. 22E, the round snowy mountain now 
 forming its southern extremity and which, after my friend, Rear- 
 Admiral Rainier, I distinguished by the name of MOUNT 
 RAINIER, bore N. (S.) 42E." (Captain George Vancouver: A 
 Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the 
 World, London, 1801, Book II, Chapter IV, Page 79, entry of 
 May 8, 1792). 
 
 The accepted right of early discoverers in a new country with uncivilized 
 inhabitants, or with no inhabitants, to confer geographic names has never been 
 traversed by geographic authority. Such, in almost verbatim language, is the 
 precept laid down by George Davidson, for many years identified with the 
 United States Coast Survey and author of the -Pacific Coast- Pilot and other 
 monumental geographic works. (George Davidson in Sierra Club Bulletin, 
 Jan., 1907, page 89.) This principle is so universally accepted and so gen- 
 erally observed that it is hardly necessary to cite multitudinous examples or 
 apologies for the few exceptions. In Vancouver's application of names he was 
 conforming to the precepts of his day and to his profession. All the names 
 which he bestowed have been retained. Only one, "Rainier", has been ques- 
 tioned. 
 
In his explorations in the northwest country Vancouver was first to reach 
 some parts and second and even third to reach other parts ; thus Gray beat him 
 in the race to the River of the AYest, but Vancouver^ recognizing his defeat, fol- 
 lowed the time-honored precept and retained the name "Columbia", which 
 Gray gave to this river. Vancouver further honored Gray by naming Gray's 
 Harbor for him, because he (Gray) was first to enter it. Other explorers 
 on the coast at the same time were the Spanish. It has since developed that 
 that nation made extensive surveys and added many names to the geograpliic 
 features thereof. Unfortunately, due to Spanish indifference, these maps did 
 not appear until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Had they appeared 
 earlier Vancouver would most certainly have incorporated the Spanish nomen- 
 clature in his maps. 
 
 INDIAN NAME HAS NO RIGHT OVER CIVILIZED NAME 
 
 The argument has been repeatedly advanced that the name Rainier should 
 be disposed and the aboriginal name restored. Even if a specific Indian name 
 had been proven, and there are four with titles quite well confirmed, such an 
 assumption has no warrant in fact. An explorer may bestow any name that 
 he may choose, and long usage and official recognition give it a title. The 
 map of the State of "Washington discloses himdreds of names of civilized origin 
 replacing aboriginal appellations. Thus the city of Tacoma has its Indian 
 name "Shuhballup,'' but its inhabitants have shown no desire to return to the 
 aboriginal title. 
 
 NEVER QUESTIONED BY COMPETENT AUTHORITY 
 
 Thus, by priority of discoven% and by publicity to the world, Vancouver 
 made good his claim to name the highest peak in the now State of Washington 
 Mount Rainier. That claim has never been questioned by competent authority. 
 All official publications of the United States Government, of international gov- 
 ernments, all maps, charts, profiles, etc., of explorers, whether representing 
 official governments or not, have, by the retention of the name Mount Rainier, 
 substantiated Vancouver's claim. Further, in the vast majority of private 
 works, in the conversations, letters, communications, etc., of pioneers and pri- 
 vate citizens, and in a vast majority of advertising by legitimate exploiters of 
 the mountain, the claim of Vancouver has been substantiated. From 1793 
 until 1917, no competent authority has shaken A^ancouver's claim. 
 
 GEOGRAPHER COULD NOT ASSIST THE MOVEMENT 
 
 In support of the inviolability of the title of Mount Rainier we particularly 
 call attention to the Sierra Club Bulletin of San Francisco, January, 1907, 
 pages 87-99 inclusive, embracing a report to the directors of the club by George 
 
Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, author of the Pacific Coast Pilot 
 and other important geographic works. This is the most thorough and able 
 discussion of the present controversy that probably has ever appeared. It is 
 too long to quote in this paper, but the first and last sentences are most 
 pertinent : 
 
 "To the Directors of the Sierra Club, San Francisco, Gentlemen: 
 You have assigned to me the duty of making a report for your considera- 
 tion upon the subject proposed by. Mr. Charles F. Lummis, namely, to 
 assist in having the name of Mount Eainior changed to Mount Tacoma. 
 * * * This examination has extended beyond what we expected to 
 present, yet it seemed desirable not to appeal to any local prejudices, but 
 to lead through good authority to that of the highest governmental de- 
 cree. And we respectfully submit that in this instance such decree is in 
 conformity with the usage of historians, geographers and government 
 records through more than a century; therefore, we suggest that the 
 Sierra Club can take no action whatever in urging the use of the new 
 name proposed for Mount Eainier." 
 
 We will also quote the following pertinent sentences from the exhaustive 
 and impartial report of Davidson: 
 
 "George Vancouver did not ignore Indian names when he could 
 obtain them from the Spaniards and fur traders. * * * 
 
 "In Vancouver's application of names — and he was far from prolific — 
 he was conforming to the precepts of his day and profession. That method 
 has been followed to the present time. It is seen in the latest Antartic 
 Explorations. * * * 
 
 "Vancouver's names upon this western coast are part of tlie history 
 of geographical discovery and exploration pennanently given to the world 
 in his narrative and charts and have been unchallenged by geographers 
 of all nationalities." 
 
 OTHER EFFORTS AT NOMENCLATURE 
 
 In 1839 Hall J. Kelley, of Boston, ^lass., in the interest of the American 
 side of the "Oregon Question", issued a memoir (in Re])ort of the Committee 
 on Foreign Affairs, House Report, Xo. 101, 25 C, 3S., Serial No. 351, pp. 
 47-6] ) in which he urged that the Cascade Mountains be called the Presidents' 
 Range and that the various peaks therein be nanied after the ex-presidents of 
 the United States. Kelley put this system of nomenclature into operation upon 
 his own authority. He distributed the presidents' names from Washington to 
 Jackson on such peaks as he saw fit. He ran out of ex-presidents' names and. 
 therefore, did not depose Mount Rainier. J. Quinn Thornton, in 1849, carried 
 Kelley's scheme further and removed Rainier in favor of Harrison (Oregon 
 and California, New York, 1849, Vol. I, p 316). A third exponent extended 
 the list to include Tyler (L. W. Hastings: A New Description of Oregon and 
 California, Cincinnati, 1857, pp 24-26). By that time there appeared some 
 
rivalry and confusion among the Kellev exponents, and Mount Baker some- 
 times appears as Mount Tyler and at other times as Mount Polk. This system 
 never had oflficial or local usage. One would have to get a book or check-list to 
 keep the names straight. The system was, in fact, only a historical curiosity. 
 
 THE CITY OF TACOMA NAMED 
 
 In 1863 Theodore Winthrop, in a posthumous work ('The Canoe and Sad- 
 dle") referred to Mount Eainier as."Tacoma", without any "Mount." In 
 August, 1868, General McCarver, one of the townsite owners of the present 
 city of Tacoma, employed Charles A, White, an Olympia civil engineer, to sur- 
 vey and map a portion of his land for townsite purposes. In doing this White 
 placed upon the map the words, "Commencement City". The word Commence- 
 ment was secured from the official name of the bay, a name bestowed by Wilkes 
 in 1841. At the suggestion of Mr. McCarver, who had just read Theodore 
 Winthrop's book, the name was changed to Tacoma, 
 
 RAINIER HISTORICALLY CONFIRMED BY TACOMA 
 
 From this time, 1868 until 1883, the name Mount Eainier was used con- 
 tinuously by the people of Tacoma as the name of the mountain. jSTobody 
 questioned the right of the mountain to be known as Eainier. On December 
 15, 1879, the Tacoma North Pacific Coast says: "Back of Steilacoom are the 
 gravelly plains, interspersed with beautiful lakes and groves. In the rear 
 ground of this natural park stands majestic Eainier". (Original submitted.) 
 
 Under date of January 1, 1880, the same paper prints a poem by Belle W. 
 Cooke, entitled "Mount Tacoma'*; also a reprint of an article by Hazard 
 Stevens entitled "The Ascent of Takhoma". In the same issue is this editorial 
 comment : 
 
 "In the poem by Mrs. Cooke and in Hazard Stevens* *As- 
 cent* of Mount Rainier, which we republish from the 'Atlantic', 
 we have followed the author's spelling. We do not suppose that 
 names so well established as are Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, 
 Straits of Juan de Fuca, can be changed by an author's senti- 
 ment or an editor's whim, so we shall continue to apply the name 
 of the old English Rear-Admiral to our mountain and call it 
 Rainier." 
 
 From that time on until the middle of the year 1883 the North Pacific 
 Coast continued that policy. The same use of Mount Eainier was made by the 
 Tacoma Weekly Ledger and the Tacoma News. Attention is respectfully called 
 to articles appearing in the following issues, which are submitted herewith : 
 
 10 
 
In the North Pacific Coast, December 15, 1879, is reprinted an article from 
 the San Francisco Chronicle, written by E. F. Eadebaugh, with this sentence: 
 "The pass is to the south of Moimt Rainier about twenty miles and was recently 
 discovered as feasible", etc. 
 
 Mr. Eadebaugh was the owner and publisher of the Tacoma Ledger at the 
 time of the edict of the Northern Pacific Eailroad to change the name of the 
 mountain to "Mount Tacoma", and was thereafter one of the most pronounced 
 advocates of the Name "Tacoma". This is stated on personal knowledge, as the 
 writer was on the staff of his paper somewhat later. 
 
 Tacoma News, November 16, 1882, an article entitled "Approaching 
 Mount Eainier." 
 
 Tacoma Weekly Ledger, July 7, 1882, item referring to glaciers on Mount 
 Rainier. 
 
 I'acoma Weekly Ledger, November 17, 1882, quotation from Seattle Post- 
 TntelVigencer regarding Mount Eainier. 
 
 Tacoma Weekly Ledger, January 5, 1883, an article regarding the cutting 
 of a new trail to the glaciers on Mount Eainier. 
 
 Tacoma News, February 22, 1883, an article embracing a description of 
 sunset on ]\Iount Eainier. Also an article descriptive of glacial formations of 
 Mount Eainier by a party of young men. 
 
 Tacoma Weekly Ledger, February 23, 1883, an article on New Tacoma, 
 referring to the snow-capped summit of Mount Eainier, 
 
 North Pacific Coast, March 30, 1881, "The loftiest peaks of the Cascade 
 chain are in order of height as follows: Mt. St. Elias in Alaska, 22,000 feet; 
 Mount Eainier in ^Yashington, 18,000 feet", etc. 
 
 In most of the above issues appears the following lodge notice: "Eainier 
 Lodge, No. 11, I. 0. 0. F., meets on Tuesday evenings at the Masonic Hall. 
 Members in good standing invited." 
 
 EDICT ISSUED TO CHANGE THE NAME 
 
 In March, 1883, the Northivest Magazine, published in New York by the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad, announced that, "The Indian name Tacoma will 
 hereafter be used in the guide books and other publications of the Northern 
 Pacific Eailroad and the Oregon Eailway & Navigation Co., instead of Eainier, 
 which the English Captain Vancouver gave to this magnificent peak when he 
 explored the waters of Puget Sound in the last century." This was the begin- 
 ning of the movement to change the name of the mountain. 
 
 11 
 
Immediately thereafter the Tacoma newspapers, which, since the date of 
 their first issues, has been using the name Eainier, began to use the word 
 "Tacoma" when referring to the mountain, and attempted to ridicule all who 
 did not do likewise. 
 
 Numerous photographic copies of Tacoma papers are submitted showing 
 their change of policy as to the title of the mountain immediately following 
 the Northern Pacific's edict, "Tacoma" being substituted for Eainier. 
 
 Despite the fact that Mount Rainier was by mandate of the Northern 
 Pacific changed to "Mount Tacoma"', the Tacoma newspapers occasionally for- 
 get to use "Mount Tacoma". As late as July 19, 1884, in the Tacoma News, 
 Mount Rainier appears. What confusion this double use of a name created is 
 made clear from a contributed article published in the Dailtj Tacoma News on 
 July 12, 1884: "I went out to Mt. Tacoma — which, by the way, is Mt. Rainier 
 everj-where except in Tacoma — about sixty miles from the city." 
 
 Tacoma News, July 19. 1884, says: "Hon. James Longmire, of Yelm, has 
 obtained an analysis of Mt. Rainier Medical Springs", etc. 
 
 MOUNTAIN NAMED AFTER THE CITY 
 
 We are loath to quote from that mass of inaccurate statement labelled 
 "History of Washington, the Evergreen State, from Early Dawn to Daylight", 
 by Julian Hawthorne (but in fact by C. G. Brewerton), New York, 1893, but 
 even in this work, at page 2(54, appears this truth, with only one error — that 
 of the orthography of the word Rainier: 
 
 "Vancouver, to compliment some British naval officer, whose fame 
 bv the way, so far as we are able to discover, is in no wise, save possibly 
 as a casual visitor, in any way connected with the exploration of Puget 
 Sound, called it Regnier. This name afterward corrupted to Rainier, was 
 geuerally accepted by the early settlers up to the time of the completion 
 of the Northern Pacific to Tacoma ; then renaming the mountain after 
 the city, the company called it Mount 'Tacoma.' " 
 
 MOVEMENT FOR A STATE OF TACOMA 
 
 Before the name Tacoma was even used unanimously in the city of Ta- 
 coma, as a designation for Mount Rainier, this article appeared in the Yakima 
 Signal, May, 1884 : "The proposition to name our future state Tacoma is 
 strongly opposed by papers throughout the Territory. While all are agreed that 
 the name ought by all means to be changed at time of admission to statehood, it 
 is also generally agreed that to name the state Tacoma would not improve mat- 
 ters much and that some name should be selected which is not now appropriated 
 by any city, and that this name should, if possible, have some geographical or 
 topographical significance." * * * (Italics ours.) 
 
 12 
 
Hon. Cornelius H. Hanford, for twenty-three years judge of the United 
 States District Court in the State of Washington, who has spent his life from 
 earliest infancy in the territ^ory and state and is a recognized authority on pio- 
 neer history, says : 
 
 "A few months prior to the passage by Congress of the Enabling Act 
 under which the states of Washington, Montana, North Dakota and South 
 Dakota were admitted into the Union, I attended a convention of citizens 
 of Washington Territory held for the purpose of devising means whereby 
 to obtain admission of Washington Territory into the Union as a state. 
 That convention was held at North Yakima, a city near the geographical 
 center of the territory, and the attendance was fairly representative of all 
 parts of the territory. Tacoma propagandists were there urging the 
 adoption of that name for the state, and the subject was referred to a 
 committee, which made a report strongly adverse to changing the name 
 of the commonwealth, and that report was adopted enthusiastically by the 
 convention." (See statement by C. H. Hanford.) 
 
 RAINIER TITLE OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED 
 
 The efforts to substitute "Mount Tacoma" for Mount Rainier were con- 
 tinued with unabated ardor until 1890, when the matter was referred to the 
 United States Board of Geographic Names, which body, after a complete inves- 
 tigation, confirmed the name "Mount Rainier." This decision removed any 
 existing doubt as to the rightful claim of the title Mount Rainier. This deci- 
 sion was accepted as final by all the world excepting the City of Tacoma, which 
 has ignored the decision and has persisted in using "Mount Tacoma", thus 
 defying the body whom they now petition. 
 
 Even the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which had been responsible 
 for the entire controversy, yielded to the decision of the Geographic Board and 
 adopted the name Rainier on all its literature, and has continued to do so from 
 1890 to the present day. In an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 
 13, 1916, the general passenger agent of the Northern Pacific was quoted as 
 saying to a delegation of Tacoma people who had protested against the use of 
 the name Rainier: "Gentlemen, we have carried this farce as far as we are 
 going to for advertising purposes. The name has been officially declared to be 
 Rainier, and that is what we shall call it. You can call it what you please," 
 
 Since Mount Rainier has a perfect title, by what authority then can the 
 name "Mount Tacoma" be substituted therefor? Only by decision of the 
 United States Geographic Board. 
 
 The question, then, is, is such a change desirable and advisable? 
 
 The genuineness of "Tacoma" as the Indian name of Mount Rainier is 
 entirely without proof, as the following particular facts indicate : 
 
 13 
 
INDIAN NAME FOR MOUNT RAINIER 
 
 Other designations of Indian origin are matters of historical record. In 
 1833 Dr. William Frasier Tolmie gives the Indian name of the mountain as 
 "Puskehouse". Dr. Tolmie was boni in Inverness, Scotland, February 5, 1812, 
 and died on December 8, 1886. He was educated at Glasgow University, where 
 he graduated in August, 1832. He later became a Licentiate of the Faculty 
 of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. On September 12, 1832, he accepted 
 a position as surgeon and clerk with the Hudson's Bay Co. and left home for 
 the Columbia Biver, arriving at Fort Vancouver in 1833. In the service of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company he traveled and resided in all portions of the north- 
 west country. In 1855 he was appointed Chief Factor, and in 1858 had full 
 charge of the British case before the United States tribunal. Dr. Tolmie was 
 known to ethnologists for his contributions to the history of the native races 
 of the west coast, and dated his interest in ethnological matters from his con- 
 tact with Horatio Hale, who visited the west coast as ethnologist to the United 
 States Exploring Expedition. He afterwards transmitted vocabularies of a 
 number of tribes to Dr. Scouler and to Mr. George Gibbs, some of which were 
 published in contributions to the North American Ethnologist. In 1884, in 
 conjunction with Dr. G. M. Dawson, a complete series of short vocabularies of 
 the principal languages met with in the northwest was published by authority 
 of Parliament entitled, "^TomiJarative Vocabularies of the Indian Tribes of 
 British Columbia". Dr. Tolmie, under date of May 26, 1833, records the fol- 
 lowing in his diary, kept while on a journey from Ft. A'ancouver to Ft. Nis- 
 qually : 
 
 "The prairie now seemed encircled with trees, which arose a bristling 
 serraded wall around, St. Helens bearing east towards high, unenclosed 
 mangnificence, and the other mountain, called by the Indians 'Puskehouse' 
 (Eainier) bore E. X. E., at summit divided into rounded eminences, 
 with a narrow, intervening hollow, to form suggesting the vulgar compari- 
 son with that of Dunl)arton rock for ages has been the highest and most 
 easterly eminence, and has a black, precipitous face, while the remainder is 
 nestled in snow. The ascent seems most practical to the S. E., by which the 
 precipice is avoided." 
 
 The close trading connection of the Hudson's Bay Company with the 
 Indians of all tribes makes this the most authoritative testimony in the world. 
 
 If any name has a claim to be perpetuated after Eainier, that name is most 
 certainly Puskehouse. 
 
 ANOTHER INDIAN NAME 
 
 Other competent authorities have stated that Tacoma was not the Indian 
 name of the mountain, and have advanced other names which are Indian. F. 
 
 14 
 
H. Whitworth came to Washington Territory in the year 1854 and has been a 
 resident of that territory and state ever since, and for a number of years was 
 interpreter for the Superinteijdency of Indian Affairs for Washington, while 
 C. H. Hale and Mr. Waterman were Superintendents of Indian Affairs during 
 the administrations of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. At that time Mr. 
 Whitworth's father. Rev. George F. Whitworth, was president of the University 
 of Washington, and he was also the founder of the First Presbyterian Church 
 in Seattle. F. H. Whitworth further was instructor in that institution for a 
 number of years. By profession he is a civil engineer, and his duties have given 
 him an intimate acquaintance with the territory and state. Mr. Whitworth 
 states as follows: 
 
 "In all that time I have never heard the mountain referred to by 
 them (the Indians) as anything but 'Stiquak' (or 'Tiswauk'), 'Lanier' (R 
 is L on an Indian's tongue), or 'Lalemite' (the mountain). I have never 
 heard the name Tacoma applied to the mountain by any Indian ; nor 
 had I ever heard tliis name applied to the moimtain by any white man 
 until after the publication of Theodore Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle." 
 (See affidavit of F. H. Whitworth.) 
 
 CONFIRMATION OF TISWAUK 
 
 Samuel L. Crawford was a native of Oregon and resided in the Territory 
 and State of Washington from earliest youth. He was a pioneer journalist and 
 until the time of his death last year one of the leading authorities on historical 
 matters in the Pacific Northwest and an ex-president of the Pioneers' Associa- 
 tion of Washington. In an interview with him published in the Seattle 
 Post-Intelligencer, March 13, 1916, he recites that in early days in Olympia 
 Peter Stanup and he were employed on the Olympia Echo, and were close 
 friends through life; that Stanup was tlie son of Jonas, a sub-chief of the 
 Puyallup Indians and was doubtless the best educated Indian on Puget Sound. 
 (The Tacoma Ledger, Friday, July 7, 1882, submitted herewith, confirms this 
 estimate in these words : "Much interest was added to the occasion by an ora- 
 tion delivered by P. C. Stanup, probably the best educated and most intelligent 
 young Indian on the Pacific Coast".) Mr. Crawford stated that Peter Stanup 
 studied for the Presbyterian ministry, preached for seven years, also studied 
 law and was admitted to the bar. , Crawford then says: 
 
 "Peter told me long before Tacoma (the city) was really on the 
 map or before the name Rainier had ever been challenged that the 
 Indian name of the mountain was 'Tiswa.uk,' and that all snow-clad 
 mountain ranges were called 'Tacobed.' The Puyallups were, of course, 
 the nearest tribe to the mountain, living almost in its shadow, and they 
 and visiting tribes called it 'Tiswauk,' Peter said. 
 
 "In later years, when the controversy about the name of the mountain 
 had arisen, Peter advised me that there was nothing to the claim that 
 the Indian name of the mountain was Tacoma; that Tacoma is not an 
 
 15 
 
Indian name and that no Indian could pronounce it. No one ever heard 
 the name applied to the mountain until the Northern Pacific Railroad 
 entered Tacoma in 1873, except the few who had read Winthrop's 'Canoe 
 and Saddle.' * * *I am fond of Indian nomenclature, and to settle 
 the controversy would agree to what I have no doubt is the old Indian 
 name, 'Tiswauk.'" (See affidavit of C. T. Conover and the manuscript 
 biography of S. L. Crawford.) 
 
 AND STILL ANOTHER INDIAN NAME 
 
 Puskehouse, Stiquak and Tiswauk have still another rival for the right 
 to the Indian title, as note the following from the Washington State Historical 
 Society publications, volume II, page 444: 
 
 "Bellingham, Wash., March 31, 1908. 
 "Benjamin L. Harvey, Esq., 2612 N. Puget Sound Ave, Tacoma, Wash. 
 "Dear Sir: Since I wrote you the other day I have talked with 
 Father Boulet, the missionary I mentioned, who has spent the greater 
 part of his lifetime among the various tribes of Indians on Puget Sound. 
 As I told you his version of the matter of names applied to the moun- 
 tains along the coast, I should regard as authentic. He tells me the 
 word 'Ta-ho-ma' does not mean 'the great mountain', but 'White Rock' ; 
 that it was the Indian name for Mount Baker, and was applied to this 
 mountain exclusively. The name applied to the mountain southeast of 
 Tacoma by the Puyallup Indians was 'Tu-ah-ku', the meaning of which 
 I have forgotten, if indeed it was given to me. The discussion of the 
 ancient Indian lore is beginning to interest me, and I shall take occasion 
 to ascertain the meaning of this last word when next I meet the old 
 missionary. 
 
 "Yours very truly, 
 
 "Ross Welch, Secretary." 
 
 In the same volume, page 458, is a letter from the late Thomas W. Prosch, 
 founder of the Pacific Tribune in Tacoma, and until his death a leading 
 authority on historical matters in Washington. This extract from said letter 
 is to some extent confirmatory of the Welch letter: 
 
 i(* * * * * * * * * It is new to me 
 that Baker was Tahoma, and probably is or will be to other citizens. That 
 Rainier was Tuahku among the Indians has at least partial confirmation 
 in one quarter. Myron Eells, one of the best informed and most consci- 
 entious of our writers upon such subjects, in an article published in the 
 American Anthropologist for January, 1892, said: 
 
 " 'A very intelligent Puyallup Indian, whose reservation is near the 
 foot of the rnountain, told me that it means "the mountain", being pro- 
 nounced by his people "Takoha", but that this was not the name by which 
 the Indians originallv called it, as their name was "Tuwaku" or "Twah- 
 wauk." ' " 
 
 This letter was addressed to Benjamin L. Harvey, Tacoma, and was dated 
 September 18, 1908. 
 
 16 
 
TACOMA NOT A GENUINE INDIAN WORD OF 
 PUGET SOUND 
 
 Dr. Charles Milton Buchanan, for twenty-five years superintendent at the 
 Tulalip Indian Eeservation, Tulalip, Wash., conceded by Prof. Edmond S. 
 Meany, professor of history of the University of Washington, to be the best 
 living authority on Indian languages and who is the author of many ethno- 
 logical works, in a letter to Benj. L. Harvey, Tacoma, Wash., under date of 
 April Iv, 1908, writes: 
 
 "I do not believe that the word 'Tacoma" is known to any of the 
 native tribes of the Puget Sound region as, generically, a genuine Indian 
 word of this region. I have commonly believed it to be (even before I 
 knew of the claims of the city of Tacoma, Washington) an Indian word of 
 Algonquian origin, and by the Algonquian stock applied to objects of 
 unusual altitude, or, as some of them express it, 'almost up to the sky' or 
 'almost up to heaven'. You will find that Tacoma. Washington, is very, 
 very far indeed from being either the first or the only possessor of the 
 right to and use of this name. You will find a Tacoma in Florida, and 
 in Virginia, as well as in Washington. You will find a Tacoma in N"evada, 
 and a Tekome in Nebraska — you will even find a Tacoma in Mexico. In 
 this connection it is to be recalled that Indian orthography is far from 
 being absolute, since few, if any, Indian tongues are written tongues per 
 se, and such spelling as exists is the effort (more often faulty than other- 
 wise) of the white man to express (in his way) an Indian word. It will 
 therefore readily occur to you that the word Tacoma is very far from 
 having any particular or peculiar local significance so far as this vicinity 
 or state may be concerned. 
 
 "The Puyallup Indians and the Tulalip Indians both speak dialectic 
 variants of the Niskwalli linguistic root stock, which is in turn a variant 
 of the Salishan stock. What the Puyallup word for Tacoma is, or for 
 Mt. Rainier is, I do not know. I have long been unable to ascertain that 
 the Tulalip Indians have ever had any special word for Rainier, other 
 than to speak of it as the 'mountain' or 'the mountain'. Their word for 
 mountain is 'sbah-det'. Their word for the place where Tacoma (the city 
 of Tacoma) stands was 'Shu-bal-lup' (accent the second syllable), which 
 means, literally, a dry place, such as one might find under a tree. With 
 few exceptions the word 'Tacoma' and its variant forms and spellings will 
 be found either in Algonquian territory (past or present) or somewhat 
 adjacent thereto — or carried from either. Winthrop was born in, lived in, 
 and died in territory subject to such conditions. 
 
 "The Government official who wrote you that the word 'Tacoma' 
 meant 'Great Mountain' probably had in mind the Algonquian meaning 
 of the word referred to above, as such would be a legitimate application 
 and use of the word apparently. 
 
 "I have also heard, on good authority (by this I mean Indian author- 
 ity, since it is on a subject concerning which an intelligent Indian would 
 probably be a better authority than even an intelligent white man) that 
 some of the tribes north of us (allied to the Clallams and the Lummis) 
 used the word 'Tah-hoh-mah' (or a very similar word) for Mount Baker, 
 
 17 
 
and that it was so used for Mount Baker exclusively. This corroborates 
 the statement of the Reverend Father Boulet, and also practically cor- 
 roborates the statement of your aforesaid U. S. Government official. 
 
 "I have heard the Eeverend Father Hylebos, of Tacoma, Washington, 
 state that the word 'Tacoma" referred to the mountain 'Rainier' and that 
 it consisted of 'Tah-hoh-mah', meaning 'the frozen water' (snow). The 
 allusion is obvious. I do not agree with the Father, however. 
 
 WINTHROP FIRST TO USE TACOMA 
 
 "My own opinion is that Winthrop was the first to actually use the 
 written word 'Tacoma' with a local application, and that in so doing 
 he probably confused the better known Algonquian word with the word 
 used exclusively for Mount Baker — or else that he knowingly and de- 
 liberately created fiction rather than chronicled fact." (See copies of cor- 
 respondence herewith, verified by Dr. Buchanan.) 
 
 In the Washington State Historical Society publications, Vol. II, page 
 454, is a letter from Dr. Charles M. Buchanan, superintendent of tlie Tulalip 
 Indian Agency, to Benjamin L. Harvey, of Tacoma, from which this extract 
 is taken : 
 
 "About the middle of page 23 is a very amusing explanation claim- 
 ing that 'Tacoma' is derived from 'ta' (the) 'ko' (water) and 'ma' (to 
 scatter like snow). I heard Rev. Father Hylebos make this same state- 
 ment in August, 1906. Xow 'ta' in Indian is not an article, but a 
 demonstrative pronoun indicating an object particularly pointed out. 'Ko' 
 is used by the Indians to indicate drinking water — that is, water that is 
 palatable. I can give a fanciful explanation just as romantic as the 
 above — far more plausible — and just as untrue. Bear in mind that the 
 Indian word for 'father' is 'ban', or 'bad', and remember also that 'b' and 
 'm' and 'p' are svnonvmous and interchangeable. What is the matter 
 with 'tah' (that)' 'koii' (water) and 'man', or 'mad' (father)— 'that 
 father of drinking water' (remember that the glaciers of the mountain 
 feed the fresh-water streams radiating from the mountain) ? Isn't it 
 plausible? But it is all made out of whole cloth, and is purely imagi- 
 nary." 
 
 "McCarver and Tacoma", by Thomas W. Prosch, General McCarver's 
 son-in-law, page 166, says: 
 
 The only living participants connected with the bestowal of the name 
 (i. e. Tacoma), are Samuel Hadlock and James Steel. A letter is then given 
 from Hadlock, dated Januarj' 30, 1905, from which the follo^ving extract 
 is made: 
 
 "Just before starting for Portland, General McCarver got Mr. Acker- 
 son, myself, and Starr together, and asked how we would like the name 
 Tacoma for the tx)wn. I had no objection to the name. * * * That 
 was the first time I had heard the name Tacoma, and I believed General 
 McCarver to have been the author of it." 
 
 18 
 
"TACOMA" UNHEARD OF BEFORE WINTHROP'S VISIT 
 
 The following are extracts from a letter from Thomas W. Prosch to 
 Benjamin L. Harvey, of Tacoma, under date of September 11, 1908, from the 
 Washington State Historical Society publications, page 457: 
 
 "I would be glad to gratify you in the matter of the word or name 
 Tacoma if I were able, but I am afraid it is impossible for me to do so. 
 
 "My first knowledge of the word came in 1866, when I had been a 
 resident of Steilacoom eight years and when it was adopted as the name 
 of a Good Templar Lodge in Olympia. I feel quite sure that prior to 
 that time Tacoma had never appeared in any Washington Territory pub- 
 lication and I feel equally sure that it never appeared in print anywhere 
 until the coming of Theodore Winthrop's 'Canoe and Saddle' in 1863. 
 I have not been able to find it in any of the written letters, diaries, narra- 
 tives, or the prints of the Territory or Nation. None of the early repre- 
 sentatives of the British or American Governments — Vancouver, Lewis 
 and Clarke, Wilkes, Elijah White, Fremont et al. — seem to have heard 
 of it, though it was directly in their line, and so also may be said of the 
 first missionaries, the Hudson Bay men, the Governor Stevens expedition, 
 the settlers of fifty and sixty years ago, no one, so far as I have learned, 
 wrote the word, put it in type, or otherwise used it before Winthrop. I 
 do not mean to say with Meeker, that Winthrop coined the word. He may 
 have heard it, or something like it, among the Indians, and he used it 
 in his 'Canoe and Saddle' book. Winthrop was a stranger, a mere passer- 
 through, and it must have been difficult for him to communicate intelli- 
 gently with the savages about him. If you don't think so, try it on with 
 an Indian, even now, who cannot speak the English, which was the case 
 with the Indians generally in his day. He also wrote his book several 
 years afterward, and then with the help of a Chinook jargon dictionary. 
 i only mean to say that the word was not in use on Puget Sound before 
 1866, and that after it came to us but few of us for a number of years 
 knew its alleged meaning. The knowledge was spread rapidly, however, 
 after the name Tacoma was given to the town on Commencement Bay by 
 General McCarver." 
 
 Note: — Mr. Prosch was General McCarver's son-in-law. 
 
 Aside from the "Tiswauk" or "Stiquak" of F. H. Whitworth, Indian 
 William, Samuel L. Crawford and Peter C. Stanup, and the "Puskehouse" 
 of William Eraser Tolmie, and Tu-ah-ku, of Father Boulet, there is an entire 
 absence of any knowledge of any Indian names for Mt. Rainier, and an abso- 
 lute denial of an Indian name on the part of many competent authorities. 
 
 DENIAL OF A SPECIFIC INDIAN NAME 
 
 D. T. Denny was one of the original settlers of the City of Seattle, locating 
 there in 1851. He was a man of great probity, high intelligence, and became 
 the close friend of the Indians. He became conversant with their language 
 talked to them in their native tongue and was recognized as their devoted 
 friend. He interpreted for them in cases of necessity. In a letter to the Seattle 
 
 19 
 
Post-Intelligencer, dated December 4, 1902, he says: "Coming to the country 
 when young, I readily learned the Chinook jargon and in process of time 
 learned to understand and speak the native Indian language common on Puget 
 Sound. I have made careful inquiries of the Indians in regard to their name 
 for Mount Eainier and I have found that their name was Taeobed, which really 
 means 'Snow Mountain', and I understand that the name Taeobed applies to 
 any mountain perpetually covered by snow. For instance, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. 
 Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Eainier or Mt. Baker would be designated as 
 Taeobed." (See photographic copy.) 
 
 jMrs. Louisa Boren Denny, widow of said David T. Denny and since de- 
 ceased, was interviewed by C. T. Conover and said interview was published in 
 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer March 13, 1916, in these words: "What do they 
 want to change the name of the mountain for ? They might as well change the 
 name of the Sound, which was also named for a Britisher. No, I never heard 
 the name Tacoma until comparatively recent years. In the early days I used 
 to talk with the Indians a great deal, and I am sure that if they had called the 
 mountain Tacoma I should have known it. They gave the name Taeobed to 
 Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, and all ranges of snow mountains in the vicinity. I 
 know distinctly tha.t Chief Sealth, who was one of the most intelligent Indians, 
 always used the white man's name. Rainier, and in the early days we nevei* 
 knew any other name. I never knew of any Indian name for any specific 
 mountain." (See affidavit of C. T. Conover.) 
 
 David Graham, aged 81 years, testified that he had resided continuously 
 in the Puget Sound country' since 1857, that in the early days he was a school 
 teacher and was engaged in vocations that took him about the country a great 
 deal, especially in Pierce and Thurston counties, and that never did he hear 
 the mountain called anything but Rainier; that in his judgment there is no 
 more justification for the use of the word Tacoma in this connection than there 
 was for the attempt to name the State of Washington Tacoma when it was 
 admitted to statehood. Mr. Graham is a high type of the pioneer, and no man 
 in the State of Washington has a better reputation for integrity and character. 
 (See his affidavit.) 
 
 L. W. Bonney, elder brother of the Secretary of the Washington State 
 Historical Society, testified that he is the son of Sherwood S. Bonney, who set- 
 tled in Pierce County, in which the city of Tacoma is located, in 1853, and that 
 the greater portion of his life has been lived in sight of Mt. Rainier ; that he 
 never heard the mountain called by any other name than Rainier by either 
 Indians or whites until about 1878, or until the Northern Pacific Railroad 
 Company's terminus was located at Tacoma. (See his affidavit.) 
 
 Cornelius H. Hanford, for twenty-three years judge of the United States 
 
 20 
 
District Court in the State of Washington, and an eminent historical author- 
 ity, says: 
 
 "I have lived in the territory and state of Washington since the year 
 1854, and so far as I have any knowledge the mountain was known by no 
 other name than Eainier prior to tlie time of the location of the Northern 
 Pacific terminus on Commencement Bay in 1873 ; except that in Theodore 
 Winthrop's book, 'The Canoe and the Saddle', that writer originated the 
 name 'Tacoma.' 
 
 ''If an Indian ever gave that word or any word having a similarity 
 of sound he probably meant to say 'Tacope Butte', Tacope being a word 
 of the Chinook jargon which means white and butte means hill or moun- 
 tain. The designation white hill would probably be given by any Indian 
 in lieu of a particular name for any snow-covered mountain." (See 
 statement of Cornelius H. Hanford.) 
 
 TACOMA NOT AN INDIAN WORD OF THE NORTHWEST 
 
 William Bishop, one of the largest dairy ranchers and breeders of blooded 
 stock in the State of Washington, testifies as follows: 
 
 "That he is fifty-five years of age, was born and has lived his life in 
 Jefferson county, state of Washington ; tliat his mother was a full-blooded 
 Indian of the Snohomish tribe ; that he is especially familiar with matters 
 of Indian history, and is and has been for a. period of ten years a member 
 of the house of representatives of the state of Washington from the County 
 of Jefferson. 
 
 "That there never has been a specific Indian name for Mount Eainier ; 
 that all the Puget Sound Indians called Mount Olympus, Mount Baker, 
 Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and all the high snow 
 peaks, 'Tahoma', meaning high mountain. The Nisqually and Klickitat 
 Indians, having a more gutteral pronunciation, used the word 'Tacobet' 
 for all high peaks, the difference being purely a matter of pronunciation. 
 
 "That the word 'Tacoma' is not a word in any Indian language of 
 the Pacific northwest, and that no Puget Sound Indian could pronounce 
 the word 'Tacoma'." (See his affidavit.) 
 
 GENERAL KAUTZ, WHO MADE FIRST ASCENT USES 
 
 NAME RAINIER 
 
 Brigadier General A. V. Kautz, who was stationed at Fort Steilacoom in 
 the fifties, made the first successful ascent of Rainier in 1857. In his account 
 of the ascent in the Overland Monthly, May, 1875, he says: 
 
 "I was at that time a first lieutenant, young, and fond of visiting 
 unexplored sections of the country, and possessed of a very prevailing 
 passion for going to the tops of high places. My quarters fronted Mount 
 Rainier, which is about 60 miles nearly east of Fort Steilacoom in an air 
 line. On a clear day it does not look more than 10 miles off and looms 
 up against the eastern sky white as the snow with which it is covered, 
 with a perfectly clear middle outline, except at the top, which is slightly 
 
 21 
 
rounded and broken. It is a grand and inspiring view and I had expressed 
 so often my determination to make the ascent that my fellow-officers 
 became incredulous and gave to all improbable and doubtful events a date 
 of occurrence when I should ascend Mount Eainier." 
 
 He mentions no other name for the mountain than Rainier throughout 
 the narrative. In honor of General Kautz's achievement one of the great 
 glaciers on the moimtain's side was named Kautz glacier. 
 
 MOUNTAIN RENAMED AFTER THE CITY 
 
 Ellwood Evans, an eminent Tacoma lawyer and historian, possessor of 
 one of the greatest historical collections in the Xorthwest, and who died in 
 Tacoma many years ago, states in his History of the Pacific N'orthwest. Port- 
 land, 1889, II, p. 153: 
 
 "By the latter appellation (Eainier) it was known to all the early 
 settlers up to the time of the completion of the Xorthern Pacific Railroad 
 to Tacoma. The railroad company then renamed the mountain after the 
 city, claiming that to be the original word designating its title. The 
 truth of the matter is, however, that the Puyallup Indians inhabiting 
 the region, called all snowy peaks by the same name — Tak-ho-ma — the 
 meaning of which, according to the translation, is 'the breast that feeds' ; 
 meaning to convey the idea that from the eternal snows come the perennial 
 water of the rivers flowing into the Sound.'' 
 
 INDIANS TAKE CUE FROM WHITES 
 
 P^zra Meeker settled in the environs of the present city of Tacoma. in 
 1853, and from earliest days has been the firm friend and confidant of the 
 Indians. He conversed with them in the native language, and in defense of 
 one of their chiefs wrote a five hundred and fifty page volume entitled, "Pio- 
 neer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, or the Tragedy of Leschi." On page 
 179 he says: 
 
 "We have a like curious phenomenon in the case of Winthrop first 
 writing the word Tacoma in September, 1853. None of the old settlers 
 had heard that name, either through the Indians or otherwise, until after 
 the publication of Winthrop's work ten years later, 'The Canoe and the 
 Saddle', when it became common knowledge and was locally applied in 
 Olympia as early as 1866, said to have been suggested by Edward Giddings 
 of that place. 
 
 "However, as Winthrop distinctly claims to have obtained the word 
 from the Indians, the fact was accepted by the reading public, and the 
 Indians soon took their cue from their white neighbors. 
 
 "It is an interesting coincidence that almost within a stone's throw 
 of where Winthrop coined the name, that we find it applied to the locality 
 that has grown to be the great city of Tacoma." 
 
 Supporting the theory of Ezra Meeker, that 'I'acoma was a word incor- 
 
 22 
 
porated into the Indian language from the whites, is a letter from Dr. Charles 
 M. Buchanan, Superintendent of the Tulalip Indian Agency, to Benjamin L. 
 Harvey, dated April 22, 1908 (Proceedings of Washington State Historical 
 Society, page 449), from which this extract is taken: 
 
 "When I stated to you that I did not know the Puyallup Indian word 
 for the mountain Eainier, I had in mind the word 'Ta-ko-bid', or 'Tah- 
 koh-buh', (as some pronounce it), but I have never considered that a 
 genuine Indian word, but merely the Indian attempt to say the word 
 'Tacoma.' Several very intelligent Indians (some of the most intelligent 
 and reliable I have ever known) agree with me in the belief that it is 
 merely an Indian attempt to say a word that they have heard the whites 
 use, and this appears to confirm Meeker.'' 
 
 Thomas W. Prosch, in a letter to Benjamin L. Harvey, dated September 
 18, 1908, Washington State Historical Society Publications, Vol. 11, page 
 459, along the same line says: 
 
 "* * * At any rate, the Indians were always ready to adopt for 
 themselves the personal names given them by the whites, and even more 
 freely gave up their local names for the names substituted by the white 
 men." 
 
 Holland H. Denny, aged sixty-five years, was born on Puget Sound and is 
 the son of one of the earliest settlers in Western Washington. He is a man of 
 high character and a leader in all important movements in the state. He tes- 
 tifies that he never heard the name "Tacoma" until the town of Tacoma was 
 established ; that tJie word "Tacobed" was applied by the Indians to all high 
 mountains, but that he is firmly convinced that Tacoma is not a word of the 
 Indian language and was coined by Theodore Winthrop. (See affidavit of 
 Rolland H. Denny.) 
 
 Edward L. Terr}-, treasurer of the City of Seattle, was bom 54 years ago 
 in said city, and is the son of one of the pioneers and founders of that place; 
 he had never heard the word "Tacoma", either as applied to the mountain or 
 otherwise by Indians or whites until after the Northern Pacific Railroad 
 Company made its terminus at the present city of Tacoma, and is positive that 
 no student of the University of Washington had ever heard the name in any 
 connection prior to that time. (See affidavit of Edward L. Terry.) 
 
 LEGEND BY WINTHROP 
 
 Harvey W. Scott, late editor of the Portland Oregonian, was recognized as 
 the ablest editor on the Pacific Coast, with historical knowledge not surpassed 
 by anyone in his time. He spent his early years in Washington Territory. In 
 the Oregonian in an article reprinted in the Tacoma Daily Neivs of April 1, 
 1884, he says: 
 
 "To the imagination of Theodore Winthrop the word 'Tacoma*, or at 
 
 23 
 
least its perpetuation, is due. The story about Mount Rainier which he 
 dressed up as a legend, calling it 'Taconia', has given a name to an im- 
 portant and growing town and may give the name to a state', etc. (See 
 photographic copy.) 
 
 "NOTHING LESS THAN A SACRILEGE" 
 
 "The Rise and Progress of an American State", by Clinton A. Snowden, 
 of Tacoma, Vol. 4, page 251, says: 
 
 "The newspapers and people of Oregon joined this opposition. The 
 attempt to change the ancient name of the majestic mountain was de- 
 clared to be nothing less than a sacrilege. It was simply a scheme of a lot 
 of real estate boomers and speculators to turn a great world landmark 
 into an advertisement, to reduce sublimity itself to the level of a sign- 
 board. The name 'Tacoma' was nothing but the invention of a dreamer, 
 a brilliant dreamer, doubtless, but a dreamer nevertheless. It had never 
 been the Indian name of the mountain. The Indians had no names for 
 mountains or other landmarks distinguishing one from another. To them 
 a mountain was a mountain, and a river was a river, and that's all 
 there was to it. A primrose by a rivers brim a yellow primrose was to 
 and nothing more. 
 
 "The newspapers of Tacoma — of which there were two — and the 
 people of the town stood sturdily for the change and made such a fight for 
 it as they were able. The two papers were issued only weekly as yet, but 
 in time, as the town grew and prospered and when daily editions appeared, 
 the battle raged hotly. The Indians were appealed to for evidence on both 
 sides, and, after their custom, generally furnished something that was 
 satisfactory to both. Edward Huggins, last of the Hudson's Bay factors, 
 who had lived for thirty years among them, declared that he had never 
 heard them speak of the mountain by any other name than 'La monte', 
 which was tlie Chinook name for it. But Mrs. Huggins, who was a 
 daughter of John Work and had been bom on the coast, had been told by 
 old Schlousin, or Sehlouskin, that the mountain's name was Tachkoma, 
 'but he couldn't give any further infonnation as to why it was so named 
 other than that anything or everything in the shape of a mountain or 
 large mound covered witli snow was named Tachkoma or Tacobah.' (See 
 Edward Huggins' Mss. for this quotation from Mrs. Huggins.) They 
 also pronounced it Tahoma or Tacobet, according to their several peculiar- 
 ities of dialect." 
 
 Thomas W. Prosch, publisher of the pioneer newspaper of Tacoma, The 
 Pacific Tribune, and son-in-law of General M. F. McCarver, the founder and 
 namer of Tacoma, says in his biography entitled, "McCarver and Tacoma", 
 page 164 : 
 
 "It is only historically fair to say that these names (which Winthrop 
 bestowed, including Tacoma), were unknown to the white people until 
 after the publication of this book ('Canoe and Saddle'), and unknown 
 in our own territory until 1886." 
 
 In the Atlantic Monthly for Xovember, 1876, was an article by General 
 
 24 
 
Hazard Stevens, son of Isaac I. Stevens, the first Governor of the Territory 
 of Washington, descriptive of his ascent in 1870 of Mount Eainier. 
 
 Eeferring to Vancouver's exploration of the North Pacific country he 
 says : 
 
 '•'When Vancouver, in 1792, penetrated the Straits of Fuca and ex- 
 plored the unknown waters of the Mediterranean of the Pacific, wherever 
 he sailed, from the Gulf of Georgia to the farthest inlet of Puget Sound, 
 he beheld the lofty snow-clad barrier range of the Cascades, stretching 
 North and South, and bounding the Eastern horizon. Towering at twice 
 the altitude of all others, at intervals of 100 miles, there loomed up above 
 the range three majestic, snowy peaks. 
 
 " 'Like giants stand 
 
 To sentinel enchanted land.' 
 
 "In the matter-of-fact spirit of a British sailor of his time, he 
 named these sublime monuments of nature in honor of three lords of 
 English Admiralty — Hood, Eainier, and Baker. Of these Eainier is the 
 central, situated about half way between the Columbia Eiver and the line 
 of British Columbia, and is by far the loftiest and largest", etc., etc. 
 
 STEVENS SAYS TAKHOMA IS A GENERIC TERM 
 
 Stevens then refers to the name "Takhoma"and in a foot-note says : 
 
 Tak-homa or Ta-homa among the Yakimas, Klickitats, Puyallups, 
 Nisquallys, and allied tribes of Indians is the generic term for mountain, 
 used precisely as we used the word 'Mount', as Takhoma Wynatchie, or 
 Mount Wynatchie. But they all designate Eainier simply as Takhoma, 
 or the Mountain, just as the mountain men used to call it the 'Old He'," 
 (See reproduction in "Mount Eainier: A Eecord of Explorations", edited 
 by Edmond S. Meany, Professor of History in the University of Wash- 
 ington, p. 95, and also photographic copy of the original herewith). 
 
 Thus on the authority of General Stevens Takhoma is not a specific name 
 applied to any particular mountain exclusively, but is a generic term equiv- 
 alent in the English language to the word "Mount" and applicable to all 
 snow peaks. 
 
 CLINCHING STATEMENT BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE 
 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
 
 From the Washington State Historical Society Publications, pages 440- 
 441, we quote the following conclusive and disinterested letter of George Otis 
 Smith, director of the United States Geological Survey: 
 
 "Washington, D. C, February 28, 1908. 
 ''Mr. Benjamin L. Harvey. Tacoma. Wa.^hington. 
 "Sir : In reply to your letter of February 15 : 
 "You will understand that, being a resident of neither Seattle nor 
 
 25 
 
Tacoma, I have no personal interest in continuing the present discussion 
 concerning the name of America's noblest mountain. I wish, however, 
 to direct your attention to certain facts which influence me in the posi- 
 tion I have taken. First, let me call your notice to the fact that you find 
 no trouble in using the name of Captain Puget, although your pen stumbles 
 over the name of Admiral Rainier. As I understand it, both were Eng- 
 lishmen with the same prejudices and much the same training. Nor would 
 I expect you to object to the name given to the sister volcano in Whatcom 
 County, namely, Mount Baker. This by way of introduction to the real 
 argument I wish to submit to you, which I believe is rather new and pos- 
 sibly not even in the repertoire of the average Seattle boomer. 
 
 "In 1901 I was in charge of the investigation of the Xorth western 
 boundary of the United States and of your State between Osoyoos Lake 
 and Puget Sound and in the course of this investigation I made use of 
 the old boundary map, which had not been published, but of which I had 
 secured photographs from the State Department. On those old maps, 
 which antedated much of the settlement of your State, the prominent 
 geographic features — rivers, lakes, and mountains — were given both the 
 English names and the old Indian names, in many cases only the Indian 
 names, since the country- was then comparatively unknown to white men. 
 Xow the interesting fact is that Mount Baker was given not only this 
 English name, but the old Indian name as well of Ta-ho-ma. In other 
 words, the Indians applied this name, which as you know, signifies The 
 Great Mountain, not only to the mountain which so beautifully looms up 
 above your own city, but also to the mountain somewhat similar in gen- 
 eral appearance, in the northern part of vour State and very likely to 
 others of the volcanic cones in Washington. The fact is that the Siwash 
 would speak of the largest mountain in his immediate vicinitv as 'the 
 mountain' just as the Tacoma man will today refer to 'the mountain,' 
 meaning Mount Kainier, whereas in the vicinity of the Xooksak you will 
 hear the ranchman designating Mount Baker as 'the mountain.' The 
 name Ta-ho-ma or Tacoma, as applied to a mountain, thus having no 
 distinctive value, it was necessarily abandoned and the more distinctive 
 names of Baker and Eainier have been applied to the mountains that are 
 so well worth naming. 
 
 "As a member of an organization devoted to exact geographic work, 
 I am compelled to stand for the authoritative name of Eainier, which is 
 supported by the Board of Geographic Names, which in turn bears the 
 stamps of approval of President Roosevelt, to whom your letter refers in 
 this connection. 
 
 "Very respectfully, 
 
 "GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director." 
 (Italics ours.) 
 
 GENERIC TERMS OFTEN TAKEN FOR SPECIFIC TERMS 
 
 In an article entitled "Indian Mj-ths of the Northwest", in the proceed- 
 ings of the American Antiquarian Society for October, 1915, William D. 
 Lyman, professor of history of ^\l^itman College, says : 
 
 "One confusing condition that often arises with Indian names and 
 
 26 
 
stories is that some Indians use a word generic-ally and others use the same 
 word specifically. For instance, the native name for Mount Adams, com- 
 monly known as 'Pahton,' and Mount Eainier or Tacoma, better spelled 
 'Tahkoma,' as sounded by the Indians, really mean any high mountains. 
 A Wasco Indian once told me that his tribe called Mountain Hood 'Pah- 
 ton/ meaning the 'big mountain,' but that the Indians on the other side 
 of the Columbia Eiver applied the same name to Adams. 
 
 "A very intelligent Puyallup Indian told me that the name of the 
 'Great White Mountain' was 'Tahkoma,' with accent and prolonged sound 
 on the second syllable, but that any snow peak was the same with the 
 second syllable not so prolonged, according to the height or distance of 
 the peak. Mount St. Helens was also Tahkoma, but with the 'ho' not so 
 prolonged." 
 
 TESTIMONY OF A LIVING HISTORIAN 
 
 Clarence B. Bagiey, President of the University of Washington State 
 Historical Society, is a man whose interests and pleasure, outside of his ordi- 
 nary duties, have been the study and compilation of matters relating to early 
 Pacific Xorthwest history. Attention is directed to his signed statement in 
 tiie following words : 
 
 "In 1852 the writer came across the plains to Old Oregon, with his 
 parents, and since then has lived in sight of Mount Rainier. 
 
 "In 18G6 he went into the office of the Surveyor General of Washing- 
 . ton at Olympia as clerk, arid was advanced to Assistant Draftsman. Cap- 
 tain James S. Lawson, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, used that office 
 one M'inter in making up his notes, charts, etc., and the writer was in tlie 
 room when he announced the result of his triangulations and measure- 
 ments of the height of Mount Rainier, as being 14,444 feet, a continu- 
 ing fraction. 
 
 "In 1868 the writer engaged in the newspaper business and continued 
 in it for about twenty years. Since 1890 he has devoted a great deal of 
 his time to the collecting and preservation of books, newspapers, manu- 
 scripts, pamphlets, etc., pertaining to the history of the Pacific Northwest, 
 and during that period has done a large amount of writing in regard to it. 
 
 "He has been familiar with every phase of the controversies regard- 
 ing the several proposed names of Mount Rainier and of 'Who Named 
 Tacoma?' 
 
 "Until the appearance of Winthrop's book 'Canoe and Saddle,' Mount 
 Rainier was the only name in use in newspaper and more serious litera- 
 ture. After its appearance here (i. e., 'Canoe and Saddle') a lodge of 
 Good Templars in Olympia was named 'Tacoma' and soon afterwards a 
 hotel in the same town was given that name. In 1868 a sawmilling town 
 on Commencement Bay was named Tacoma, and in 1873, when the North- 
 ern Pacific Railroad Company located its Western terminal on Puget 
 Sound, it called its embryo town 'New Tacoma.' During the next ten 
 years, or until 1883, the use of Mount Rainier was universal, colloquially, 
 and in the press, though occasionally some fugitive verse or work of fiction 
 used the word Tacoma in connection with the mountain. 
 
 "That year, between February and May, the newspapers of the City 
 
 27 
 
of Tacoma, began applying the name Tacoma to the mountain, following 
 the suggestion or order emanating from the office of the Northern Pacific 
 Eailroad Company in St. Paul. 
 
 "The demand for the change of the name has always come from the 
 officers of that company and the people of Tacoma. It has never been 
 actuated by a desire to perpetuate the original Indian names of this region, 
 but the one word has been singled out as a means of advertising a particu- 
 lar city. 
 
 "The writer has talked with one hundred or more of the true pioneers 
 of Western Washington who came here in the oO's or prior to that time, 
 and every one of them has told him that he or she had never heard the 
 name Tacoma. applied to Mount Eainier until after the appearance here 
 of 'Canoe and Saddle.' '' 
 
 WINTHROP CONCEDES TACOMA TO BE A GENERIC 
 
 TERM 
 
 We have shown that every competent historical authority available con- 
 cedes that Takhoma, Tacobet, Tacobed, Dacobed, Tacope and all the varia- 
 tions of this word as understood from the difficult Indian pronunciation, is a 
 generic term applied to all snow-capped mountains, except such as question 
 the authenticity of the word as of genuine Indian origin. 
 
 It has also been shown beyond any reasonable doubt that the word Tacoma 
 was originated by Theodore Winthrop, and that he first applied it to Mount 
 Rainier. It is therefore important to know the exact tenns in which he did 
 so. In "The Canoe and the Saddle", by Theodore Winthrop, published by 
 John W. Lovell Co. of New York, page 44, ap])ears these words: 
 
 "Of all the peaks from California to Frazer's River, this one before 
 me was royalist. Mount Regnier, Christians have dubbed it, in stupid 
 nomenclature perpetuating the name of somebody or nobody. More me- 
 lodiously the Siwashes call it Tacoma, n generic term also applied to all 
 snoic peals." (Italics ours.) 
 
 Winthrop was, of course, only a bird of passage. He traveled from Port 
 Townsend to Nisqually by canoe, and thence over the Cascades towards the 
 East on horseback. If he is actually the authority for the name Tacoma. 
 and it appears beyond all peradventure that he is, he completely annihilates all 
 claim that it was the Indian name of the mountain by the statement that it 
 was "a generic name also applied to all snow peaks", which exactly agrees, 
 with reasonable allowance for pronunciation, with the early pioneers and 
 leading historical works herein quoted. Winthrop may easily have made 
 "Tacoma" out of the sputtering, gutteral Indian pronunciation of "Tacobed" 
 or "Tacobet." The authenticity, however, of the latter word supported by 
 historical record and the testimony of the pioneers understanding the native 
 tongue is, of course, unassailable, as against the interpretation of Winthrop. 
 
 28 
 
One is inclined to believe that the application of the name Tacoma to 
 the mountain was rather a flight of poetical fancy on the part of Winthrop, 
 for in his intimate letters to his mother during his voyage through the 
 Pacific Northwest he invariably uses the historical name Rainier, as: 
 
 "Over the trees that belted the river, nearer than ever, rose graceful 
 St. Helens, and now first clearly seen, the immense bulk of Rainier, the 
 most massive of all — grand, grand, above the plains !" 
 
 And, "Had a jolly time, splendid sheet of water with islands and nooks 
 of bays. Mount Rainier hung up in the air." (See life and poems of Theo- 
 dore Winthrop, edited by his sister, 1884, pages 156 and 157, and photographic 
 copies of the same herewith.) 
 
 NO CHANGE WARRANTED EXCEPT ON GROUNDS 
 THAT CARRY CONVICTION 
 
 A change of name of a prominent geographical feature should only be 
 made by competent authority for clear and well defined reasons in the interests 
 of historical accuracy or public policy. Changes are confusing at best and 
 should not be based upon trifling grounds or irrevelant pretexts. The question 
 is not "What name shall be given to an unnamed object." The mountain has 
 now a name conferred on it by its discoverer in accordance with age-old 
 custom, a name since universally applied to it by geographers, followed with 
 only limited exception by popular usage and officially confirmed by this Board. 
 
 A CHANGE WOULD MAKE CONFUSION WORSE 
 CONFOUNDED 
 
 It would be inadvisable to substitute Tacoma for Rainier because of the 
 endless confusion which would result from such action. It is impossible in 
 a paper of this length to submit all citations to Mount Rainier in the enormous 
 body of Americana, now embraced in our libraries. Especial attention is 
 called to the following partial categories : 
 
 Up to the year 1863, when Theodore Winthrop's book entitled "The 
 Canoe and The Saddle" made its appearance, no work, public or j^rivate, 
 cites any name for Mount Rainier save the one given by Captain Vancouver. 
 I'he exceptions to the above by three private writers who preferred Mount 
 Harrison, have already been noted. 
 
 In all public documents of the civilized world up to the present day, in 
 all public maps, charts, scientific works, and in government literature, no 
 name save that of Mount Rainier has been used. One exception only is noted: 
 Mr. Emmons in one article preferred the name Tacoma, but spelled it dif- 
 ferently. 
 
 29 
 
In all the works of explorers, navigators, and scientists, notably Wilkco, 
 Fremont, Stevens, Davidson, Alden, Kellett, Inskip, and Richards, no other 
 designation except Mount Rainier is used. In by far the greater portion of 
 all private literature Mount Rainier is sanctioned by usage. Special atten- 
 tion is called to the index by Poole, the present Readers' Guide. Further, in 
 the official publications of Western mountaineer societies, especially the Sierra 
 Club of California, the Mazamas of Oregon, and the Mountaineers of Wash- 
 ington, the designation Mount Rainier is used exclusively. In all the official 
 literature of railroads and steamboat companies which send thousands of 
 people to the Mount Rainier Xational Park, no name other than Mount 
 Rainier appears as the title of this mountain. 
 
 Mention is especially made of the literature of Mount Rainier Xational 
 Park, distributed by the United States Government. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to comment upon the great confusion and dupli- 
 cation which would ensue were a second name substituted for Mount Rainier. 
 Already enough confusion has been brought about by the persistence of advo- 
 cates of the word Tacoma. As an illustration of this we cite Poole's Index. 
 In that work the vast majority of articles appear under Rainier — a few under 
 Tacoma. Unless the reader is familiar with the controversy (and few persons 
 outside of Puget Sound region are familiar with it), he will look under Rainier 
 in the index, and thus miss the articles which are cited under Tacoma. Fur- 
 ther some articles are not listed under Tacoma, but under some form of the 
 word Tacoma, as Takhoma. 
 
 RAINIER, 46; TACOMA, 1 
 
 Bibliography of Washington Geology and Geography, issued by the State 
 of Washington, Olympia, 1913, cites 47 publications on Mount Rainier, many 
 of them by the Alpine, Mazama, Mountaineer, and Sierra clubs. In 46 cases 
 the mountain is called Rainier, and in one case Tacoma. The use of the two 
 names respectively is in very much the same proportion throughout the State 
 of Washington. Aside from historical accuracy and every ethical considera- 
 tion, which is easier — to change the habit of 4(5 persons or of one? 
 
 A CHANGE WOULD CAUSE MONETARY LOSS 
 
 To substitute the name Tacoma for the name Rainier woukl not be ad- 
 visable because it would result in an unjustifiable financial loss of "good will" 
 to the legitimate advertisei-s of the mountain and Mount Rainier Xational 
 Park. 
 
 We suggest incidentally the loss and embarrassment to the United States 
 Government, and particularly the fact that for many years the government 
 
 30 
 
has expended large sums of money in the preparation and distribution of 
 maps and literature in an effort to educate the public to the fullest possible 
 appreciation of the scenic, scientific and health-giving value of this park; and 
 that upon this park it has spent immense sums to make its attractions avail- 
 able. I'his constitutes a public good will which could scarcely be appraised in 
 money. To change the name of the mountain and consequently of the park 
 would be virtually to destroy in the minds of the people of the world the ex- 
 istence of such a park, and thousands of dollars would have to be expended in 
 educating the people of the United States and Europe to the appreciation of 
 the park under a new name. Every private corporation knows the value of an 
 established name, and the name or trade-mark is often the chief assef, of im- 
 portant business concerns. 
 
 Greater loss and one even more burdensome would result to private in- 
 dividuals who have been the chief actors in bringing about a sentiment which 
 resulted in the creation of the Rainier National Park. For many years all 
 railroads entering the Puget Sound region, have spent money liberally in ad- 
 vertising the mountain and the park with a view to securing tourist travel. 
 If a cliangc of name were now made much of this work would have to be done 
 over. Likewise, many authors have issued books upon the mountain and in 
 good faith have put out their work under the official name of Mount Rainier. 
 Attention is called to a recent work by Professor Edmond S. Meany, entitled 
 "Mount Rainier: A Record of Exploration." A large edition has already 
 been disposed of, eight hundred copies of which are now in Eastern libraries. 
 A second edition has just come from off the press, and will be in the market 
 shortly. Much money has been expended by the publishers in exploiting this 
 book under its official title. 
 
 A CHANGE WOULD NOT SETTLE THE CONTROVERSY 
 
 It would not be advisable to substitute Tacoma for Rainier because such 
 action would not settle the controversy. It would renew and intensify it. 
 The controversy has its strong side and its weak side. Very few persons who 
 are free from local or personal interest in the matter question that the strength 
 of the matter is with Rainier. The citizens of the city of Tacoma desire that 
 the name Tacoma be substituted for the name Rainier, while nine-tenths of 
 the remainder of the state desire that the name Rainier be retained. The 
 only controversy is that of the city of Tacoma against the rest of the world 
 and the United States Geographic Board. The substitution of Tacoma for 
 Rainier would make confusion worse confounded an hundred fold. If the 
 action of this Board twenty-six years ago supported by all the historical 
 precedents did not terminate the controversy, can it be hoped that its action, 
 if taken now in opposition to all precedents, will set the matter at rest? 
 
 31 
 
MR. WALL SUGGESTS A VERY REAL FACT 
 
 S. W. Wall, the head of the Taeoma movement, in these words in the 
 Seattle Argm of March IT, 1917, expresses a very definite fact: 
 
 " * * * And there is just one reason, it seems to me, why it 
 [Taeoma] may not be adopted, and that is that the board may fear it 
 would not be accepted by all the citizens of the State and the confusion 
 we seek to be rid of continued." 
 
 As already stated, the confusion now existing from Tacoma"s refusal to 
 confomi to the decision of the Board of Geographic Names and designate the 
 mountain by its official title, would certainly be immensely increased by an 
 attempt to make the entire civilized world, outside of Taeoma, call the moun- 
 tain by the name of that city, after a century and a quarter of usage of the 
 name Eainier. 
 
 NEWSPAPER EXPRESSIONS 
 
 This is very clearly expressed in a leading editorial in the Seattle Post- 
 Intelligencer, the most important morning newspaper in the State of Wash- 
 ington, under date of April 21, 1917: 
 
 ''The pros and cons of the controversy, historical and otherwise, are 
 so numerous as to be beyond newspaper space. Putting them all aside, 
 there still remains one indisputable fact that should convince the Geo- 
 graphic Board of the futility of any change. 
 
 "For years the official name of the mountain has been Mount Rainier. 
 There has been no question as to that. The existence of official sanction 
 has never been questioned. Yet the people of Taeoma have never used 
 the name Eainier, and they have maintained their antipathy to such 
 designation so consistently that railroads and other corporations using 
 the mountain for advertising purposes always felt compelled to include 
 tlie name IMount Taeoma in their printing. 
 
 "It is, of course, possible to decree that henceforth the name of the 
 mountain shall be Mount Taeoma, or Mount Somethingelse. But no 
 decree can make people use the name. It will still be Mount Rainier in 
 speech and in the written word. The action of the Geographic Board, 
 should it order a change, would be merely to take away official sanction 
 from Rainier, without any possibility of changing the habit of speech 
 of the people of Washington. And certainly it will have infinit-ely less 
 effect on the custom of the world at large. Mount Rainier it will al- 
 ways be." 
 
 The following is an extract from the leading editorial of the Seattle Times, 
 the chief afternoon daily of the Pacific Northwest, in its issue of February 
 10, 1917: 
 
 "LET IT REMAIN 'MOUNT RAINIER' " 
 
 "* * * King County and this city gave abundant evidence of their 
 friendship for Pierce County when they Vent down the line' in support 
 
 32 
 
of the amiy post scheme in Pierce County — the biggest thing that has 
 happened for Tacoma in its history. Seattle, of its own volition, an- 
 nounced that it was prepared, if necessary to assure the success of the 
 plan, to ask that Fort Lawton be abandoned as an army post and turned 
 into a municipal park. Tacoma could ask for no more convincing proof 
 of this city's disinterested friendship. 
 
 "Tacoma always has taken the question of the mountain's name alto- 
 gether too seriously for its own good. It has fretted itself into a state 
 of mind where it regards the majestic height as a private asset of the City 
 of Destiny, forgetting that every other community in the state and, par- 
 ticularly, in ^^'estem Washington, has a certain very definite interest in 
 this most beautiful of all American peaks. J^ 
 
 "Tacoma has no better claim to the mountain than has Seattle. In 
 fact, if there is to be a contest precipitated over its name, Seattle may 
 elect to 'get into the game' itself. Certainly, 'Seattle' is just as good In- 
 dian as 'Tacoma,' is just as dignified and is not spelled in forty different 
 ways by contending enthusiasts. 
 
 "Furtheruiore, if Tacoma can change Eainier's name at this session 
 of the Legislature, why will it not be possible for Seattle to change 'Mount 
 Tacoma's' name to 'Mount Seattle' at the next? In fact, there is no ap- 
 ])arent reason why this absurd contest should not be kept up indefinitely, 
 to the mingled amuseuient and amazement of an astonished country. 
 
 "There is absolutely no justification for Tacoma's attempt to steal 
 the mountain for advertising purposes. The Legislature should be ac- 
 quainted at once with Seattle's disapproxal of the proposition. Certainly, 
 if the state solons indorse the change desired ])y Tacoma, they should, 
 with equal reason, vote to change all the other distinctive designations 
 in this state whenever requested to do so by self advertising municipalities 
 or real estate boomers." 
 
 The Seattle Fod-Intplligencer said editorially, Aju'il 3, 1910: 
 
 "Seattle is exceedingly busy just now in trying to meet the oppor- 
 tunities so fortunately thrust upon it and to acquit itself creditably of 
 its new responsibilities. In this situation, with its coat off and sleeves 
 rolled up and every hour calling for action, Seattle is invited to lay aside 
 its work and undertake an enquiry as to what name the Indians of Puget 
 Sound used in referring to what is now known as Mount Rainier. 
 
 "Various citizens of Tacoma feel that it would be a grand adver- 
 tisement to have the great mountain bear the name of their city and 
 they are seeking this change like a Chamber of Commerce Committee 
 might seek a new industry or a new railroad and for the same reasons. 
 * * * Tacoma should get down to the business of city building and 
 take advantage of its opportunities for material advancement now go 
 liberally offered. There is nothing in this name campaign and it can 
 only .mean the waste of va.lua.ble time and effort in a triviality. * * * 
 Tacoma should put her shoulder to the wheel and push in the direction 
 of some practical constructive purpose." 
 
 It is to be remembered that the controversy is not solely between the peo- 
 ple of Tacoma and the United States Geographic Board. Further, for over 
 twenty-six years (from 1890 to 191T), the champions of the name Tacoma 
 
have ignored the decision of the United States Board of Geographic Names. 
 Is there any guarantee that, if the name Tacoma were made the official designa- 
 tion by the United States Geographic Board, it would be accepted by those 
 who believe (on groimds that this Board must recognize as just), that Rainier 
 is the only name historically correct? We seriously question whether any 
 compromise name, such as Puskehouse, Tiswauk, Lincoln or Whitman, would 
 be accepted by those who have asked for a change. They will stick to Tacoma. 
 
 A bad example has been set by the advocates of the name Tacoma, and. 
 if one bad example can bring about a desired end, a second endeavor of like 
 character is quite likely to follow. Thus, in the near future, the United 
 States Geographic Board, if it reverses its decision of 1890, will be called 
 upon to reverse a reversal and return to the previous decision, which is liis- 
 torically supported. 
 
 This is a larger question than that of any community or of the nation- 
 it is international in its interest and in its effect. Is it probable that foreign 
 geographers will agree to the innovation of a new name at this late day, in- 
 volving a change in all their maps, charts and records? 
 
 No community, however, proximate, has a claim over and above any other 
 community in the United States, however distant. It would be as pertinent 
 for a city in the State of Florida to rechristen the mountain as for any com- 
 munity in the State of Washington. 
 
 IN CONCLUSION 
 
 Therefore, since the name of Mount Rainier has a perfect title in history, 
 and since the genuineness of the name Tacoma has not been established, and 
 since no widespread or national request for a change has been made, and 
 since the change to the name Tacoma, or any other name, would result in 
 confusion and financial loss, and since a change to the name Tacoma would 
 not end the controversy, it is urged that no change be made from the name 
 of Mount Rainier. 
 
 All this is most respectfully submitted by one whose first home in Wash- 
 ington territory was in Tacoma, whose oldest friends in the state are there, 
 and who himself called the mountain Tacoma until convinced by research 
 that no historical warrant existed for the name. 
 
 All authorities cited herein are submitted in the original or in the form 
 of photographic copies. 
 
 CHARLES TALLMADGE CONOVER, 
 Ecpresenting numerous citizens of the State of Washington. 
 Seattle, April 24, 1917. 
 
 34 
 
REMARKS BY C. T. CONOVER 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the United States Geographic Board: 
 
 This is a peculiar malady that you are called upon to consider and slow 
 to yield to treatment. It has been before you before more than twenty-six 
 /ears ago and is back again now in spite of your diagnosis and treatment at 
 thit time. I know it well. It has been classified by a well-known historian as 
 "Tffcomacitis". I have lived in Tacoma and I have had it. In other words, 
 TaLVfma was my first home on the coast and I believed that Tacoma was the 
 abor.'^inal name of the mountain and that Eainier was a rank usurper until 
 research convinced me of the error. The peculiar thing is that a cure is im- 
 possible while one lives in Tacoma. 
 
 "Convince a man against his will, 
 He'll hold the same opinion still." 
 
 I have a friend in Tacoma, a highly intelligent woman, with whom 
 I was recently discussing the mountain's name. Incidentally, I quoted a 
 paragraph from the book of Ezra Meeker. She replied, "But they say 
 he didn't say it". Xow, whether or not he said it, his book was the 
 best evidence, but she relied upon this indefinite statement rather than 
 find out from Mr. Meeker's book itself, whether or not Mr. Meeker testified 
 as I said he did. This attitude, I am forced to say, I have always found to be 
 one of the pronounced and peculiar symptoms of the disease. While this 
 malady seems peculiarly virulent at the present moment, I can assure this 
 Honorable Board that this is its final manifestation, just as a tree erupts 
 an unprecedented mass of blossom the year before it dies. 
 
 In the days of my residence in Tacoma thirty years ago, Tacomacitis 
 was quite a new malady, with all the vigor of youth. In those days George 
 Francis Train, the eccentric publicist, was sort of a patron saint of Tacoma, 
 under the patronage of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and I well 
 remember the wierd copy he used to send us of the Tacoma Ledger from New 
 York, every other line written in blue pencil and alternate lines in red. The 
 only gem from his pen that I now recall is this touching sentiment : 
 
 "Tacoma ! Tacoma ! ! Aroma ! Aroma ! ! 
 
 "Seattle! Seattle!! Death Rattle! Death Rattle!!" 
 
 It all seems quite crazy looking back upon it, but he was considered in 
 Tacoma a very great poet indeed, so great that he was sent around the world 
 on a spectacular trip against time for advertising purposes, promulgating his 
 touching "Aroma Death Rattle" sentiments en route. Mr. Wall went as his 
 private secretary and wrote a book on the experience. It is quite natural 
 that he, in this day, should be leading Tacoma's forces and he himself at the 
 front bearing the heat and brunt of battle. 
 
 35 
 
I will acknowledge that we have been taken very much by surprise by 
 the complete change of front of the Tacoma campaign since we reached Wash- 
 ington. For years we have been hearing out in Washington that Eainier was 
 an Englishman and that he had been an enemy of this country and that, in 
 consequence, Mt. Eainier must be renamed Tacoma. We never heard anything 
 about the offence to our good taste and patriotism because Mt. Baker, Mt. 
 Hood, Mt. St. Helens or Puget Sound were named for Englishmen who had 
 been enemies of this country in just the same Avay — it was all poor old Peter 
 Eainier. Mr. Wall conducted a weekly paper in Tacoma, called What's Doing, 
 and the only thing that was doing was the spreading of this doctrine. Mr. 
 Wall went up and down the state, Avaving the bloody shirt and personally 
 visited every member of both houses of the legislature, and pledged them, 
 wherever possible, just as one would in a political campaign, to vote for a 
 memorial to this Honorable Body to make a change of name. Most of these 
 politicians knew but little about the merits of the matter and perhaps cared 
 less. Here is a sample of Mr. Wall's literature which has been spread broadcast, 
 an extract from a leaflet entitled "'■Justice to the Mountain": 
 
 "That a petition be circulated in Seattle and l^acoma and through- 
 out the state asking the Geographic Board at Washington to renounce 
 the name Eainier and adopt in its stead one of the various forms of the 
 Indian name * * * for the reason that Eainier, for whom Vancouver 
 named the mountain, was an enemy of our country and fought against 
 us when we were struggling for our liberty, and that to honor him with 
 such a monument — the most majestic single peak on earth — is extremely 
 offensive to the patriotic feeling of a people living in the State called 
 Washington." 
 
 You would be surprised at the persistent and spectacular features this 
 campaign has assumed. Just last evening I received from my son at Harvard 
 this editorial from the staid old Boston Transcript of April 28, 1917: 
 
 (Here Mr. Conover quoted from an editorial of the Boston Transcript 
 accusing the Geographic Board of cowardice in straddling the Mt. Eainier 
 issue and adopting the hyphenated tenn "Eainier-Tacoma," and contain- 
 ing a variety of equally inaccurate historical statements and ending with 
 a plea for "justice to the mountain" in typical Tacoma style.) 
 
 Chairman Braid: But this Board never straddled this issue or gave 
 official sanction to the hypenated name. 
 
 Mr. Conover: I am well aware of that, but that statement is no more 
 false than every other statement in this clipping. 
 
 Finally the legislature met and a joint memorial was introduced asking 
 this Honorable Board to make a change in the name of Mt. Eainier to the 
 aboriginal name, setting out in detail Eainier's English birth and service in 
 the British Navy, and that to have a mountain named for him was a source 
 
 36 
 
of constant humiliation to the people of the state and a reflection on their 
 taste and patriotism, etc., etc. AVe submit a copy of the resolution, and include 
 it also in our printed statement. 
 
 Xow, in spite of this long continued propaganda, the state had not taken 
 it seriously — in fact, had paid no attention to it and had not dignified it by 
 opposition. The idea of asking this Board to decide a question it had already 
 decided appeared too ridiculous for serious attention. The resolution, however, 
 aroused a general ripple of ridicule throughout the state. Joint memorials 
 were introduced to change the names of several natural features to the names 
 of cities nearest them respectively, each in the language of the Tacoma memor- 
 ial as to the nationality and services of Baker, Hood, St. Helens and Puget 
 and trie offence to good taste and patriotism, and each, in addition, frankly 
 recited that the respective communities sought to have the changes made for 
 advertising purposes. Thus Bellingham asked for Mt. Baker, Chehalis for 
 Mt. St. Helens, Portland for Mt. Hood, Seattle for Puget Sound, etc. 
 
 The Tacoma memorial was passed in the House but died in the Senate. 
 Thereupon a new joint memorial was introduced and although the campaign 
 for years had been that of the bloody shirt, all reference to this sanguinary 
 garment was omitted in the new memorial, whose sole cause of action was that 
 of confusion from the present multiplicity of names, a confusion due entirely 
 to Tacoma's refusal to recognize a previous decision of this Board. 
 
 Finally, the state at large began to take notice. On February 10, 1917. 
 the leading editorial of the Seattle Times read in part as follows: 
 
 "Tacoma always has taken the question of the mountain's name alto- 
 gether too seriously for its own good. It has fretted itself into a state 
 of mind where it regards the majestic height as a private asset of the City 
 of Destiny, forgetting that every other community in the State, and 
 particularly in western Washington, has a certain very definite interest 
 in this most beautiful of all American peaks. 
 
 "Tacoma has no better claim to the mountain than has Seattle. In 
 fact, if there is to be a contest precipitated over its name, Seattle may 
 elect to get into the game itself. Certainly 'Seattle' is just as good Indian 
 as 'Tacoma,' is just as dignified, and is not spelled in forty different ways 
 by contending enthusiasts. 
 
 "Furthermore, if Tacoma can change Kainier's name at this session 
 of the legislature, why will it not be possible for Seattle to change 'Mt. 
 Tacoma's' name to 'Mt. Seattle' at the next? In fact, there is no apparent 
 reason why this absurd contest should not be kept up indefinitely to the 
 mingled amusement and amazement of an astonished country * * * 
 Certainly if the State solons endorse the change desired by Tacoma, they 
 should, with equal reason, vote to change all the other distinctive designa- 
 tions in this State whenever requested to do so by self-advertising munici- 
 palities or real estate boomers." 
 
 However, the memorial went through, although it was a perversion of the 
 
 37 
 
sentiment of the state and of the legislature itself. Why and how it went 
 through is best expressed in the words of William Bishop, a member of the 
 legislature for ten years, one of the leading business men of the state, the son 
 of a full-blooded Indian mother, whose interest in the matter was due to his 
 knowledge of the facts and his interest in historical accuracy. I will quote 
 from his affidavit: 
 
 "That knowing the facts and circumstances in this matter he opposed 
 the passage of the joint memorial in the last session of the State Legis- 
 lature and unqualifiedly states that the real sentiment of both houses was 
 opposed to the passage of the memorial, asking for the change in this 
 name; that its passage was secured through the powerful influence of 
 the Speaker of the House, who was from Tacoma, and the President of 
 the Senate, who was from Tacoma. Their influence, through tlie chair- 
 men of the various committees whom they had appointed, absolutely con- 
 trolled. That the passage of said memorial was somewhat facilitated by 
 the argument that Eainier was an Englishman and had been an enemy 
 of this country." 
 
 During the session of the legislature, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had 
 an editorial on the subject that was apparently an attempt to be facetious, but 
 which was interpreted as an indorsement of the proposed change. That this 
 was not its intention is evidenced by this extract from an editorial in the Post- 
 Intelligencer, April 21, 1917, just a few days ago: 
 
 "The pros and cons of the controversy, historical and otherwise, are 
 so numerous as to be beyond newspaper space. Putting them all aside, 
 there still remains one indisputable fact that should convince the Geo- 
 graphic Board of the futility of any change. 
 
 "For years the official name of the mountain has been Mount Rainier. 
 There has been no question as to that. The existence of official sanction 
 has never been questioned. Yet the people of Tacoma have never used 
 the name Rainier, and they have maintained their antipathy to such desig- 
 nation so consistently that railroads and other corporations using the 
 luoimtain for advertising purposes have always felt compelled to include 
 the name 'Mount Tacoma" in their printing. 
 
 "It is, of course, possible to decree that henceforth the name of the 
 mountain shall be Mount Tacoma or Mount Somethingelse. But no decree 
 can make the people use the name. It will still be Mount Rainier in 
 speech and in the M^'itten word. The action of the Geographic Board, 
 should it order a change, would be merely to take away official sanction 
 from Rainier without any possibility of changing the habit of speech of 
 the people of Washington. And certainly, it will have infinitely less effect 
 on the custom of the world at large. Mount Rainier it will always be." 
 
 I will also read an extract from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of April 
 3, 1916: 
 
 "Seattle is exceedingly busy just now in trying to meet the oppor- 
 tunities so fortunately thrust upon it and to acquit itself creditably of 
 its new responsibilities. In this situation, with its coat off and sleeves 
 
 38 
 
rolled up and every hour calling for action, Seattle is invited to lay aside 
 its work and undertake an inquiry as to what name the Indians of Piiget 
 Sound used in referring to what is now known as Mount Rainier. 
 
 "Various citizens of Tacoma feel that it would be a grand advertise- 
 ment to have the great mountain bear the name of their city, and they 
 are seeking this change like a Chamber of Commerce committee might 
 seek a new industry or a new railroad, and for the same reason. * * * 
 Tacoma should get down to the business of city-building and take ad- 
 vantage of its opportunity for material advancement now so liberally 
 offered. There is notliing in this name campaign, and it can only mean 
 the waste of valuable time and effort in a triviality. * * * Tacoma 
 should put her shoulder to the wheel and push in the direction of some 
 practical constructive purpose." 
 
 In passing, I Avant to say that the alleged patriotic ground upon which 
 the campaign for this hearing was based, is not sincere and I cannot puncture 
 it in any words quite as neat as those addressed to Benjamin L. Harvey, of 
 Tacoma, more than nine years ago by George Otis Smith, Director of the 
 United States Geological Survey, which letter is quoted in full in our brief, 
 and is, incidentally, an impartial and unanswerable argument as to the validity 
 of Eainier's title. This is the extract from Director Smith's letter: 
 
 "First let me call your notice to the fact that you find no trouble 
 in using the name of Captain Puget, although your pen stumbles over 
 the name of Admiral Eainier. As I understand it, both were English- 
 men, with the same prejudices and much the same training. Xor would 
 I expect you to object to the name given to the sister volcano in Whatcom 
 County, namely. Mount Baker." 
 
 I consider personally that the patriotic argument advanced as the chief 
 cause for desiring this change is unworthy of Tacoma, and now that we are 
 allied with the great British nation in a contest for world freedom and for 
 civilization itself, it cannot but be construed by our Anglo-Saxon brethren, 
 either across the water or across the Canadian line, almost within the shadow 
 of this great mountain, as an unfriendly act. I think it is most deplorable 
 that such an issue should have been raised, and I am frank to say that I feel 
 a sense of personal outrage from the propagation of such sentiments as an ex- 
 pression of the State of Washington. 
 
 We are here to present to this Honorable Board an orderly array of 
 incontrovertible facts for the purpose of settling this matter once more and, 
 we believe, for all time. We shall show that the name "Rainier" has a perfect 
 title and is the only name possible under historic precedent. 
 
 That it was universally recognized as the name of the mountain until the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad issued its famous mandate changing the name to 
 Tacoma. 
 
 That even after said mandate Tacoma newspapers continued occasionally 
 
 39 
 
to call the mountain "Eainier" because they found it difficult to make the 
 change. 
 
 That this action of the Northern Pacific Railroad created such confusion 
 that the United States Board of Geographic Names made a complete investiga- 
 tion and confirmed the name "Rainier". That thereafter even the railroad com- 
 pany adopted the name "Rainier" and only the city of Tacoma refused to 
 abide by the decision of this Board, and now asks for a reversal of that judg- 
 ment because of its own obduracy, and for no other reason. 
 
 That the word "Tacoma" was the invention of Theodore Winthrop, 
 although a word resembling it was probably a generic term applied to all snow 
 peaks, and we will show from Winthrop's own writings that he acknowledged 
 the word to be a generic term, completely annulling the claim that it was the 
 specific name for Mt. Rainier. 
 
 The case on the facts will be presented by Mr. Victor J. Farrar, Research 
 Assistant of the University of Washington, in the Department of History, the 
 man who, in my opinion, knows the facts, without bias or prejudice, better than 
 any other living person. He has only been in Washington three years, fresh 
 from an Eastern university, and during that time has done nothing but delve 
 in obscure points in Pacific Northwest history. 
 
 We were extremely fortunate in the fact that Mr. Farrar had secured a 
 leave of absence from the university and was on the point of coming East to 
 visit his mother before enlisting in his countrj-'s service, and that from his 
 professional interest he consented to present the purely historical side of this 
 matter. I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Farrar, of the University of 
 Washington. 
 
 (Before Mr. Farrar could proceed. Congressman Johnson denied his right 
 to testify because he was a member of the faculty of the University of Wash- 
 ington, and in every way sought to prevent the witness from testifying. Mr. 
 Farrar stated that he had not surrendered his citizenship; that he was East 
 on a leave of absence and had no interest in the matter whatever aside from 
 that of historical truth. Mr. Conover asked Mr. Johnson if he were not on the 
 Federal payroll and whether he felt that that fact disqualified him from appear- 
 ing at the present hearing. Mr. Farrar was allowed to proceed, but was again 
 subjected to a violent interruption during his remarks by Congressman John- 
 son, who demanded to know from what source the various works of reference 
 which Mr. Farrar* submitted had been secured. Mr. Farrar explained that 
 he owned some, that Mr. Conover owned some, C. B. Bagley owned some, and 
 that one belonged to the University of Washington library. This statement 
 brought out a demand from Mr. Johnson to know when the University of 
 Washington library- book had been taken out, but as that was not considered 
 a relevant point Mr. Farrar was again allowed to proceed.) 
 
 40 
 
HISTORICAL STATEMENT BY VICTOR J. FARRAR 
 
 Gentlemen : The Senate Joint Memorial passed by the legislature of 
 the state of Washington in February, 1917, petitions your honorable body "to 
 substitute for the name 'Kainier' the most appropriate name that you may 
 select after having given a hearing to those who may desire to present evidence 
 as to what that name should be". 
 
 Of course everybody present understands that the delegation from Tacoma 
 wishes to bave the name 'Eainier' removed and the name 'Tacoma" substituted. 
 In my present argument I shall endeavor to do two things: First, to show 
 that the name Rainier has a perfect title, and second, to show that if your 
 Honorable Body wishes to substitute a name therefor that the name "Tacoma" 
 from a historical standpoint is not the proper name to substitute. 
 
 First, as to the title of Mount Rainier. Some persons have contended 
 that Captain George Vancouver had no right to name this mountain. If 
 there is any doubt auiong the members of this Honorable Body as to tbe right 
 of Vancouver to name this mountain I wish to call attention to an article by 
 Mr. George Davidson entitled "The Xame 'Mount Rainier' " in Sierra Club 
 Bulletin, No. 35, Januar}^ 1907, pp. 87, and following. In this article Mr. 
 Davidson in almost verbatim language says. 
 
 The accepted right of the discoverer in a new country with un- 
 civilized inhabitants, or with no inhabitants to apply geographic names, 
 has never been traversed by competent authority. 
 
 Now that accepted right of the explorer needs very little argument. It is 
 the same right under which Wilkes, Fremont, Stevens, Davidson, Alden, Kel- 
 lett, Inski]) and Richards labored. In accordance with that right Vancouver 
 named the highest mountain in the now state of Washington, and in his journal 
 of May 8, 1792, he records: 
 
 • 
 
 "The weather was serene and pleasant, and the country continued to 
 exhibit, between us and the eastern snowy range, the same luxurious ap- 
 pearance. At its northern extremity. Mount Baker bore by compass N. 
 22 E. ; tbe round snowy mountain, now forming its southern extremity, 
 and which, after mv friend Rear Admiral Rainier, I distinguished by the 
 name of MOUNT RAINIER, bore S. 42 E." 
 
 Judge Wickersham has contended that Vancouver was not the discoverer 
 of this mountain although he admits the right of the discoverer to name the 
 mountain. I hold that Vancouver was the first person to discover the moun- 
 tain since I find that the Spanish in their records announce no discovery of 
 it nor is it set down on their charts. Judge Wickersham may infer that siuce 
 the Spanish were on the coast prior to Vancouver they must needs have seen 
 the mountain. He is entitled to his own opinion but this does not constitute 
 
 41 
 
a discovery. As a matter of fact, the Spanish explorations did not extend 
 further south in Puget Sound than about the middle of Whidbey Island. 
 
 Further, other persons have contended that Vancouver was not free to 
 choose names ; that he ignored the Indian name of the mountain which he had 
 no right to do. I find no precedent for such a contention. No Indian name 
 has priority over a civilized name. Were such a contention valid most of the 
 civilized names would disappear or, rather would never have appeared. Even 
 the site of the city of Tacoma has its Indian name (Shuhballup), but there has 
 never been a desire on the part of that city to go back to the aboriginal name. 
 Only Eainier is questioned. 
 
 That Vancouver had the right to name the mountain is well attested by 
 the fact that since 1792 no geographer of any nationality has ever challenged 
 the name. 
 
 Despite the fact that Mount Eainier was officially recognized throughout 
 the world certain individuals from various motives have endeavored at one 
 time or other to substitute another name, and in these efforts the Tacoma peo- 
 ple were not first. 
 
 In 1839, Hall J. Kelley, of Boston, Mass., in the interest of the American 
 side of the "Oregon Question," issued a memoir (in Eeport to the Committee 
 on Foreign Affairs, House Eeport Xo. 101, 25 C, 3 S., Serial Xo. 351, pp. 
 47-61) in which he urged that the Cascade Mountains be called the Presidents' 
 Eange and that the various peaks therein be named after the ex-presidents of 
 the United States. Kelley put this system of nomenclature into opepration upon 
 his own authority. He distributed the presidents' names from Washington to 
 Jackson on such peaks as he saw fit. He ran out of ex-presidents' names and, 
 therefore, did not depose Mount Eainier. J. Quinn Thornton, in 1849 (Ore- 
 gon and California, New York, 1849, Vol. 1, p. 316), carried Kelley's scheme 
 further and removed Eainier in favor of Harrison. A third exponent extended 
 the list to include Tyler (L. W. Hastings, A New Description of Oregon 'and 
 California. Cincinnati, 1857, pp. 24-26). By that time there appeared some 
 rivalry and confusion among the Kelley exponents, and Mount Baker some- 
 times appears as Mount Tyler and at other times as Mount Polk. This system 
 never had official or extensive local usage. One had to get a book or check-list 
 to keep the names straight. The system was, in fact, only a historical curiosity. 
 
 Thus ended the first effort to change the name of Mount Eainier. 
 
 In the spring of 1853 Theodore Winthrop, a graduate of Harvard Uni- 
 versity, came to Fort Vancouver. He was in the employ of the Pacific ^lail 
 Steamship Company and was then on leave of absence. After a tour about 
 Puget Sound Winthrop decided to return to the Columbia Eiver via the Cas- 
 cade Mountains, and on the 23d day of August, 1853. secured at Fort Nisqually 
 
 42 
 
an Indian guide and three horses, crossed the mountains through the Caches 
 Pass nortli of Mount Eainier, reached his destination, returned home and the 
 Sound witnessed his presence no more. He was killed in the Civil War and 
 in 18(32 his family published his work, entitled "The Canoe and the Saddle." 
 In a cliapter called "Tacoma and the Indian Legend of Hamitchou," Winthrop 
 introduced the word "Tacoma" in these words: 
 
 "Of all the peaks from California to Frazer's Eiver, this one before 
 me was royalist. Mount Eegnier, Christians have dubbed it, in stupid 
 nomenclature perpetuating the name of somebody or nobody. More me- 
 lodiously the Siwashes call it Tacoma — a generic term also applied to all 
 snow peaks." 
 
 This was the firsi appearance of the word "Tacoma." It was a poetical 
 appearance even on Winthrop's part for in his letters to his mother, he uses 
 the official name of Mount Rainier. Thus, in a letter dated Fort Xisqually, 
 Puget Sound, July 23d, 1853, appear these excerpts: 
 
 "* * * Over the trees that belted the river, nearer than ever 
 arose graceful St. Helen's, and now first clearly seen, the immense hulk 
 of Eainier, the most massive of all — grand, grand above the plain!" 
 * * * "Had a jolly time — splendid sheet of water with islands and 
 nooks of bays. Mount Eainier hung up in the air." 
 
 Winthrop's book made its appearance on the Sound some three years after 
 publication, but the name "Tacoma" for a great many years afterwards was 
 not known to the great body of pioneers. It is said to have been first locally 
 applied to a hotel and a lodge of Good Templars in Olympia. 
 
 In 1868, Morton M. McCarver, a pioneer town-builder, founder of Bur- 
 lington, Iowa, Linnton, Oregon, and Sacramento, California, came to Puget 
 Sound with the idea of founding a city on the site of the proposed Northern 
 Pacific Eailroad terminus. In the spring of that year McCarver repaired to 
 Olympia where he secured a land-office map of the territory of Washington, 
 and after some deliberation decided that the most likely site of the proposed 
 terminus would be Commencement Bay opposite the Snoqualmie Pass. Acting 
 upon this idea he went to Commencement Bay, became acquainted with Job 
 Carr, who was proving up on a land claim, and the latter agreed to sell. Mc- 
 Carver' subsequently located his town-site on this claim. He was not connected 
 with the >;orthern Pacific Eailroad, although the selection of his town as the 
 terminus of the railroad was the all important consideration. He did all in 
 his power to interest the ISTorthem Pacific Eailroad in his town and his efforts 
 were successful. At this time McCarver's new town had no name. He subse- 
 quently selected the name of "Tacoma." Eegarding that event, I wish to 
 quote from a book entitled "McCarver and Tacoma," by Thomas W. Prosch, 
 son-in-law of Mr. McCarver, and editor of the first newspaper published in 
 Tacoma : 
 
 43 
 
"On Friday, the 11th of September, 1868, Mr. Philip Kitz landed 
 at Steilacoom from the steamer George S. Wright. * * * jjg y,g^ 
 then on a trip acquiring information for use in the interest of the Xorth- 
 em Pacific Eailroad. He wanted to see the site of the contemplated new 
 Puget Sound town, and he also wanted to suggest a name for it. He 
 rode over the reservation, and from there went bv canoe to the house of 
 the ]\IcCarvers, and later spent the night at Job Carr's. That evening 
 and the next morning he talked with all the eloquence in him the name 
 Tacoma. He told of a recently issued book called 'The Canoe and the 
 Saddle,' which he had just read. It was, he said, written by one Theodore 
 \^'inthrop, who had been on the Sound fifteen years before, and who, on 
 the 22d day of August, 1853. crossed the harbor then in front of them. 
 * * * Mr. Ritz's presentation was convincing to the wife and daugh- 
 ters of General McCarver." 
 
 Aft^r the naane "Tacoma" was applied to the town few persons on the 
 Sound for years afterwards knew its origin, or if they did, questioned the 
 right of the mountain to be known as Eainier. In fact, from 1868 until 1883, 
 practically nobody inside or outside of the city of Tacoma used any other 
 designation for the mountain than Mount Eainier. I wish especially to refer 
 you to the files of newspapers published in the city of Tacoma during these 
 years. I have recently examined papers in the possession of Mr. Clarence B. 
 Bagley, of Seattle, and I find an almost unanimous use of the designation 
 Mount Eainier therein. As to this usage I wish to call the attention of this 
 honorable body to the following issues : 
 
 On December 15, 1879, the Tacoma North Pacific Coast says: "Back of 
 Steilacoom are the gravelly plains, interspersed with beautiful lakes and groves. 
 In the rear ground of this natural park stands majestic Eainier." 
 
 In the yorth Pacific Coast, December 15, 1879, is reprinted an article 
 from the San Francisco Chronicle, written by E. F. Eadebaugh, with this 
 sentence : "The pass is to the south of Mount Eainier about twenty miles and 
 was recently discovered as feasible,'' etc. 
 
 Under date of January 1, 1880, the same paper prints a poem by Belle 
 W. Cooke, entitled "Mount Tacoma;" also a reprint of an article by Hazard 
 Stevens, entitled "The Ascent of Takhoma." In the same issue is this editorial 
 comment : 
 
 "In the poem by Mrs. Cooke and in Hazard Stevens' 'Ascent' of 
 Mount Eainier, which we republish from the 'Atlantic,' we have followed 
 the author's s})elling. We do not suppose that names so well established 
 as are Puget Sound, Moimt Eainier, Straits of Juan de Fuca, can be 
 changed by an author's sentiment or an editor's whim, so we shall con- 
 tinue to apply the name of the old English Eear-Admiral to our mountain 
 and call it Rainier." 
 
 In the North Pacific Coast of March 30, 1881, appear these words : "The 
 
 44 
 
loftiest peaks of the Cascade chain are in order of height as follows: Mount 
 St. ElJas in Alaska, 22,000 feet; Mount Rainier in Washington, 18,000 feet," 
 etc. 
 
 In the Tacoma WeeMy Ledger of July 7, 1882, is an item referring to 
 glaciers on Mount Eainier. 
 
 In the Tacoma News of November IG, 1882, is an article entitled "Ap- 
 proaching Mount Eainier." 
 
 In the Tacoma Weekly Ledger of November 17, 1882, is a quotation from 
 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer regarding Mount Rainier. 
 
 In the Tacoma WeeMy Ledger of January 5, 1883, is an article regarding 
 the cutting of a new trail to the glaciers on Mount Rainier. 
 
 In the Tacoma News of Februan- 22, 1883, is an article embracing a 
 description of sunset on Mount Rainier, also an article descriptive of glacial 
 formations of Mount Rainier, 
 
 In the Tacoma Weekly Ledger of February 23, 1883, is an article on New 
 Tacoma, referring to the snow-capped summit of Mount Rainier. 
 
 In most of the above issues appears the following lodge notice : "Rainier 
 Lodge, No. 11, I. 0. 0. F., meets on Tuesday evenings at the Masonic Hall. 
 Members in good standing invited." 
 
 It seems probable that the people of Tacoma would have gone on using 
 the name Mount Rainier had not an event caused them to change to "Mount 
 Tacoma." In March, 1883, the Northwest Magazine, published in New York 
 under the auspices of the Northern Pacific Railroad, announced that: 
 
 "The Indian name Tacoma will hereafter be used in the guide books 
 and other publications of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Oregon 
 Railway & Navigation Co., instead of Rainier, which the English Captain 
 Vancouver gave to this magnificent peak when he explored the waters of 
 Puget Sound in the last century." 
 
 From this event dates this present controversy. 
 
 Following this mandate the people of Tacoma commenced a campaign to 
 depose the name Rainier and to substitute the name "Tacoma." 
 
 Clinton A. Snowden, in his History of Washington, Vol. IV, p. 250, 
 traces the beginnings of this controversy in these words : 
 
 "The Tacoma Ledger quoted the above announcement in a brief edi- 
 torial, when the magazine reached the coast some weeks later, and added 
 that 'The name Rainier never had any appropriateness, for it was adopted 
 as a compliment to an English admiral, who never saw the mountain. If 
 the newspapers in Oregon and Washington will join in the effort to restore 
 
 45 
 
the musical and significant Indian title, the change can be fully accom- 
 plished in a few years.' 
 
 "However this suggestion might have been regarded under other cir- 
 cumstances, it was not approved by the newspapers referred to. Those 
 of Seattle received it with derision, and most of the othei-s in the terri- 
 tory outside of Tacoma, with more or less vigorous disapproval. * * * 
 
 "The newspapers and people of Oregon joined tliis opposition. The 
 attempt to change the ancient name of the majestic mountain was de- 
 clared to be nothing less than sacrilege." 
 
 As to the ill-feeling and confusion which was resulting I wish to call to 
 the attention of this honorable body the following issues: 
 
 The Tacoma Daily News under date of May 16, 1884, reprinted an article 
 from the Seattle Post containing these words: "It [The Tacoma Dailj/ Xeics] 
 is continually, in the language and writings of others, changing Rainier into 
 Tacoma," etc. 
 
 The Tacoma Daily Xcws, under date of July 12, 1884, in a contributed 
 article said : "I went out to Mount Tacoma — which by the way, is Mount 
 Rainier everj'where except in Tacoma — about sixty miles from the city." 
 
 The Tacoma Daily News, under date of July 21, 1884, in another con- 
 tributed article, said : "To the right appears the Cascade Mountains and the 
 hoary peaks of Mount Tacoma, 14,444 feet high, or Rainier, as you niust call 
 it in Seattle." 
 
 The "Tacoma" propaganda knew no botmds. It was not limited by the 
 mountain or the city. It happened that the territory of Washington was ready 
 to come into the union as a state and as there had always been more or less 
 confusion between Washington State and Washington, D. C, many persons 
 thought a change of name on the part of the proposed state advisable. The 
 people of Tacoma went so far as to advocate the name "Tacoma" for the 
 future state. On this subject the Yakima Signal, under date of May 22, 1884, 
 published the following article: 
 
 "The proposition to name our future state Tacoma is stix)ngly op- 
 posed by papers throughout the Territory. While all are agreed that the 
 name ought by all means to be changed at the time of admission to state- 
 hood, it is also generally agreed that to name the state Tacoma would not 
 improve matters much and that some name should be selected which is 
 not now appropriated by any city, and that this name should, if possible, 
 have some geographic or topographical significance." 
 
 The "Tacoma State" propaganda made considerable headway as the fol- 
 lowing, from Cornelius H. Hanford, ex-Justice of the United States District 
 Court in the State of Washington, will show : 
 
 "A few months prior to the passage by Congress of the Enabling 
 Act under which the states of Washington, Montana, Xorth Dakota and 
 
 46 
 
South Dakota were adinitted into the Union, I attended a convention of 
 citizens of Washington Territory held for the purpose of devising means 
 whereby to obtain admission of Washington Territory into the Union as 
 a state. That convention was held at North Yakima, a city near the 
 geographical center of the territory, and the attendance was fairly repre- 
 sentative of all parts of the territory. Tacoma propagandists were there 
 urging the adoption of that name for the state, and the subject was 
 referred to a committee which made a report strongly adverse to changing 
 the name of the commonwealth, and that report was adopted enthusiasti- 
 cally by the convention." 
 
 The "Tacoma State" propaganda was lost but the "Mount Tacoma" 
 propaganda continued unabated and was finally referred to the United States 
 authorities for adjudication. On the 4th of September, 1890, President Har- 
 rison issued an executive order for the organization of the United States Board 
 of Geographic Names, composed of the following men: 
 
 Professor Thos C. Mendenhall, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
 Chairman. 
 
 Andrew H. Allen, Department of State. 
 
 Captain Henry U. Howison, Lighthouse Board, Treasury depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain Thomas Tuttle, Engineer Corps, War Department. 
 
 Lieutenant Richardson Clover, Hydrographic Office, Xavy Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Pierson H. Bristow, Postoffice Department. 
 
 Otis T. Mason, Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 Herbert G. Ogdeh, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 
 
 Henry Gannett, United States Geological Survey 
 
 Marcus Baker, Ignited States Geological Survey. 
 
 This board decided unanimously in favor of the name Mount Rainier. 
 I shall read herewith a portion of a letter from Lieutenant (now Rear Ad- 
 miral) Richardson Clover, a member of the board, to the Hon. John F. Miller, 
 M. C, under date of May 1, 1917: 
 
 I was one of the original members of the Geographic Board appointed 
 nearly a quarter of a century ago. I was the secretary of the board and 
 one of the three of the executive committee. The founders of the North- 
 em Pacific Railroad had made and were giving away a fine map of the 
 North country and having settled then that their road should terminate 
 at Tacoma appropriated Mt. Rainier, which looks so beautiful from that 
 place, and changed on their map the name to Mt. Tacoma and it was 
 rapidly becoming fixed w'ith the new population who naturally were 
 iising the free railroad map. The Geographic Board in the course of its 
 work took these names under consideration and without a dissenting vote 
 
 47 
 
reaffirmed the name Bainier given it by Vancouver when he first saw the 
 mountain. 
 
 Whatever may be said for or against the name Mount Rainier, the deci- 
 sion of this board was final. I have always regarded that decision as I would 
 a decision of a supreme court. 
 
 It is, of course, quite possible for this honorable body to make an arbitrary 
 decision and to substitute some name for the name Mount Rainier. I wish 
 to introduce certain evidence to show that from the historical standpoint the 
 name "Tacoma" is not the best name to be substituted. I shall introduce evi- 
 dence to show that there are other names of Indian origin for Mount Rainier ; 
 that the genuineness of the name "Tacoma" as an Indian word has been ques- 
 tioned by competent authorities; that the name "Tacoma" at best is not a 
 specific name but a generic term ; and finally that many authorities believe the 
 word "Tacoma" to be a white man's word which has crept into the Indian's 
 language. 
 
 Dr. William Fraser Tolmie, clerk and surgeon in the employ of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, in his journal under date of May 31, 1833. records the 
 Indian name of Mount Rainier as "Puskehouse," in these words: 
 
 "The prairie now seemed encircled with trees, which arose a bristling 
 serraded wall around, St. Helens bearing east towards high, unenclosed 
 magnificence and the other mountain, called by the Indians 'Puskehouse' 
 (Rainier) bore E. N. E. at summit divided into rounded eminences, with 
 a narrow, intervening hollow, to fomi suggesting the vulgar comparison 
 with that of Dunbarton rock has for ages been the highest and most 
 easterly eminence, and has a black precipitous face, while the remainder 
 is nestled in snow." 
 
 1'his name, introduced by a disinterested party, twenty years before set- 
 tlement seriously began, thirty yeai*s Ijefore the appearance of Winthrop's 
 "Canoe and the Saddle," and fifty years before the controversy, demands serious 
 consideration from all persons who are urging the restoration of the true 
 Indian name. 
 
 Peter C. Stanup, son of Jonas Stanup, sub-Chief of the Puyallup Indians, 
 quoted in the autobiography of the late Samuel L. Crawford, on page 37, gives 
 the Indian name of the mountain as "Tiswauk," in these words: 
 
 * * *" 'Certain tribes of Indians, including the Puyallup Indians, 
 in speaking of any high range of mountains called them Takhoman, but 
 each mountain has its separate name, and the Indian name for Rainier is 
 Tiswauk.' " 
 
 Mr. F. H. WTiitworth, interpreter for the Superintendency of Indian Af- 
 fairs for Washington imder Hale and AVaterman. confirms the Indian name 
 "Tiswauk" in these words: 
 
 48 
 
"In all that time I have never heard the mountain referred to by 
 them (the Indians) as anything but 'Stiquak' (or 'Tiswauk'), 'Lainier' 
 (K is L on an Indian's tongue), or 'Lalemite' (the mountain). I have 
 never heard the name Tacoma applied to the mountain by any Indian; 
 nor had I ever heard this name applied to the mountain by any white 
 man until after the publication of Theodore Winthrop's 'Canoe and 
 Saddle'." 
 
 Father Boulet, a missionary who has spent the greater part of his life- 
 time among the various tribes of Indians on Puget Sound, gives the Indian 
 name as "Tu-ah-ku." I refer to a letter published in the State Historical 
 Society of Washingto^ Publications, Vol. II, p. 444. Mr. Eoss, speaking for 
 Father Boulet, says : 
 
 "He tells me the word 'Ta-ho-ma' does not mean the great mountain 
 but 'White Rock'; that it was the Indian name for Mt. Baker, and was 
 applied to this mountain exclusively. The name applied to the mountain 
 southeast of Tacoma by the Puyallup Indians as 'Ta-ah-ku.' 
 
 'J'he name "Tu-ah-ku" is confirmed by Myron P^ells in the American 
 Anthropologist for January, 1892, in these words: 
 
 "A very intelligent Pm^allup Indian, whose reservation is near the 
 foot of the mountain, told me that it (Tacoma) means 'the mountain', 
 being pronounced by his people 'Takoba', but that this was not the name 
 bv which the Indians originallv called it, as their name was 'Tuwakhu' 
 or 'Twahwauk.'" 
 
 Thus we have "Puskehouse," "Tiswauk" and "Tuahku" given as the true 
 Indian names of Mount Rainier by independent, competent and trustworthy 
 authorities. 
 
 Again, many authorities deny the genuineness of the word "Tacoma" as 
 the Indian designation for Mount Rainier. 
 
 David Graham, a resident of the Puget Sound Country since 1857, states: 
 
 "In the early days I was a school teacher and was engaged in voca- 
 tions that took me about the country a great deal, especially in Pierce 
 and Thurston counties, and never did I hear the mountain called anything 
 but Rainier; in my judgment there is no more justification for the use 
 of the word Tacoma in this connection than there was for the attempt to 
 name the state of Washington Tacoma when it was admitted to state- 
 hood." 
 
 ^[r. L. W. Bonney, son of Sherwood F. Bonney, a pioneer of 1853 near 
 Tacoma, says: 
 
 "I never heard the mountain called by any other name than Rainier 
 by either Indians or whites until about 1878, or until the Xorthern Pacific 
 Railroad Company's terminus was located at Tacoma." 
 
 Judge Cornelius H. Hanford, of the United States District Court for 
 A\'ashington and a resident of the territory and state since boyhood, states: 
 
 49 
 
"If an Indian ever gave that word or any word having a similarity 
 of sound he probably meant to say 'Tacope Butte', Tacope being a word 
 of the Chinook jargon which means white, and butte means hill or moun- 
 tain. The designation white hill would probably be given by any Indian 
 in lieu of a particular name for any snow-covered mountain." 
 
 Hon. Clarence B. Bagley, president of the Washington State University 
 Historical Society and a pioneer of 1852, states: 
 
 "Until the appearance of Winthrop's book, 'Canoe and Saddle', 
 Mount Kainier was the only naane in use in newspaper and more serious 
 literature. * * * j j^^^g talked with one hundred or more of the 
 true pioneers of Western Washington who came here in the 'fifties or prior 
 to that time, and every one of them has told me that he or she had never 
 heard the name Tacoma applied to Mount Eainier until after the appear- 
 ance here of 'Canoe and Saddle'.'' 
 
 Mr. Thomas W. Prosch, son-in-law of Gen. McCarver, in the Washington 
 State Historical Society Publications, Vol. II, p. 458, writes: 
 
 "I have not been able to find it (Tacoma) in any of the written letters, 
 records, diaries, narratives, or the prints of the territory or the nation. 
 Xone of the early representatives of the British or Anierican govern- 
 ments — Vancouver, Lewis and Clarke, Wilkes, Elijah White, Fremont, 
 et al. — seem to have heard of it, though it was directly in their line, and 
 so also may be said of the first missionaries, the Hudson Bay men, the 
 Governor Stevens expedition, the settlers of fifty and sixty years ago, no 
 one, so far as 1 have learned, wrote the word, put it in type, or otherwise 
 used it before Winthrop. I do not mean to say with Meeker, that Win- 
 throp coined the word. He may have heard it, or something like it, 
 among the Indians, and he used it in his 'Canoe and Saddle' book. Win- 
 throp was a stranger, a mere passer-through, and it must have been diffi- 
 cult for him to communicate intelligently with the savages al)Out him. 
 If you don't think so, try it on with an Indian, even now, who cannot 
 speak the English, which was the case with the Indians generally in his 
 day. He also wrote his book several years afterwards, and then with the 
 help of a Chinook jargon dictionary. I only mean to say that the word 
 was not in use on Puget Sound before 1866, and that after it came to us 
 but few of us for a number of years, knew its alleged meaning. The 
 knowledge was spread rapidly, however, after the name Tacoma was given 
 to the town on Commencement Bay by General McCarver." 
 
 Edward Huggins, last of the Hudson Bay Company's traders at Fort Nis- 
 qually, in Snowden's History of Washington, Vol. IV, p. 252, declared he 
 " 'had never heard them speak of the mountain by any other name than le 
 monte, which was the Chinook name for it.' " 
 
 The late Harvey W. Scott, veteran editor of the Portland Orcgonian. in 
 an article reprinted in the Tacoma Z>at7y NewS' under date of April 1, 1884. 
 said : 
 
 "To the imagination of Theodore Winthrop the word 'Tacoma'. or at 
 
 50 
 
least its perpetuation, is clue. The story about Mount Eainier which he 
 dressed up as a legend, calling it 'Tacoma', has given a name to an 
 important and growing town and may give the name to a state", etc. 
 
 Dr. Charles Milton Buchanan, for twenty-five years superintendent of 
 the Tulalip Indian Eeservation, Tulalip, Washington, in a letter to Mr. Benja- 
 min L. Harvey, Tacoma, Washington, under date of April 17, 1908, denies 
 Tacoma to be an Indian word, as follows: 
 
 "I do not believe that the word 'Tacoma' is known to any of the 
 native tribes of the Puget Sound region as, generically, a genuine Indian 
 word of this region.* * * 
 
 "The Tulalip Indians and the Puyallup Indians both speak dialectic 
 va/riants of the Niskwalli linguistic root stock, which is in turn a variant 
 of the Salishan stock. What the Puyallup word for Tacoma is, or for 
 Mt. Kainier is, I do not know. I have been unable to ascertain that the 
 Tulalip Indians have ever had any special word for Eainier, other than 
 to speak of it as the 'mountain' or 'the mountain'. Their word for moun- 
 tain is 'sbah-det.' 
 
 "I have also heard, on good authority (by this I mean Indian author- 
 ity, since it is on a subject concerning which an intelligent Indian would 
 probably be a better authority than even an intelligent white man) that 
 some of the tribes north of us (allied to the Clallams and the Lummis) 
 used the word 'Tah-hoh-mah' (or a very similar word) for Mount Baker, 
 and that it was so used for Mount Baker exclusively. This corroborates the 
 statement of the Eeverend Father Boulet. * * *" 
 
 I shall now proceed to produce evidence to show that the word "Tacoma" 
 is not the specific name for Mount Eainier, but at best only a generic term. 
 
 Mr. David T. Denny, one of the founders of the City of Seattle, in the 
 Post-Intelligencer of December 4, 1902, states: 
 
 "I have made careful inquiries of the Indians in regard to their name 
 for Mt. Eainier and I have found that their name was Tacobed, which 
 really means 'Snow Mountain', and I understand that the name Tacobed 
 applied to any mountain perpetually covered by snow. For instance, Mt. 
 Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Eainier or Mt. Baker would be 
 designated as Tacobed." 
 
 Mrs. Louisa Boren Denny, his wife, says : 
 
 "I never heard the name Tacoma until comparatively recent years. 
 In the early days I used to talk with the Indians a great deal and I am 
 sure that if they had called the mountain Tacoma I should have known 
 it. They gave the name Tacobed to Mt. Baker, Mt. Eainier and all ranges 
 of snow mountains in the vicinity. I know distinctly that Chief Sealth, 
 who was one of the most intelligent Indians, always used the white man's 
 name Eainier and in the early days we never knew any other name. I 
 never knew of any Indian name for any specific moimtain." 
 
 Hon. William Bishop, the son of a white father and an Indian mother 
 
 51 
 
of the Snohomish tribe, a rich stock rancher and a member of the legislature 
 for ten years, states: 
 
 "There never has been a specific Indian name for Mt. Rainier; all 
 the Puget Sound Indians called Mt. Olympus, Mt. Baker, Mt. St. Helens, 
 Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and all the high snow peaks 'Tahoma', meaning 
 high mountain. The Xlsqually and Klickitat Indians, having a more 
 gutteral pronunciation, used the word Tacobet for all high peaks, the 
 difference being purely a matter of pronunciation. 
 
 "Tacoma is not an Indian word of the Pacific Xorthwest and no 
 Puget Sound Indian could pronounce the word." 
 
 The late Elwood Evans, an eminent Tacoma lawyer and historian, 
 the possessor of one of the greatest historical collections on the Northwest, 
 and the author of a two-volume work entitled, "History of Oregon and AYash- 
 ington", published in Portland, 1889, in volume II, on page 155, says: 
 
 "By the latter appellation (Rainier) it was known to all the early 
 settlers up to the time of the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
 to Tacoma. The railroad compaey then renamed the mountain after the 
 city, claiming that to be the original name designating its title. The 
 truth of the matter is, however, that the Puyallup Indians inhabitating 
 the region, called all snowy peaks by the same name — 'i'ak-ho-ma — the 
 meaning of which, according to the translation, is 'the breast that feeds' ; 
 meaning to convey the idea that from the eternal snows come the perennial 
 water of the rivers flowing into the Sound." 
 
 Mrs. Edward Huggins, wife of Edward Huggins, quoted in Snowden, 
 page 252, stated that Old Schlousin, or Schlouskin, said that the mountain's 
 name was Tachkoma, " 'but that he couldn't give any further information as to 
 why it was so named other than thait anything or everything in the shape 
 of a mountain or large moimd covered with snow was named Tach-koma. or 
 Tacobah'." 
 
 Professor William B. Lyman, professor of history in Whitman College, 
 in a paper published in the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 
 entitled "Indian Myths of the Northwest", for October, 1915, said: 
 
 "One confusing condition that often arises with Indian names and 
 stories is that some Indians use a word generically and others use the 
 same word specificially. For instance, tlie native name for Mount Adams, 
 commonly known as 'Pahton", and Mount Rainier or Tacoma, better 
 spelled Tahkoma as sounded by the Indians, really mean any high moun- 
 tain. A Wasco Indian once told me that his tribe called Mount Hood 
 Tahton', meaning the 'big mountain', but that the Indians on the other 
 side of the Columbia River applied the same name to Adams. 
 
 "A very intelligent Puyallup Indian told me that the name of the 
 'Great AVhite Mountain' was Tahkoma, with accent and prolonged sound 
 on the second syllable, but that any snow peak was the same with the 
 second syllable not so prolonged, according to the height or distance 
 
 52 
 
of the peak. Mount St. Helens was also Tahkoma. but with the 'ho' not 
 so prolonged." 
 
 Gen. Hazard Stevens in his article, "The Ascent of Takhoma", published 
 in the Atlantic Monthhj, for November, 1876, says: 
 
 "Tak-homa or Tahonia among the Yakimas, Klickitats, Puyallups, 
 Nisquallys, and allied tribes of Indians is the generic term for mountain, 
 used precisely as we used the word 'Blount', as Takhoma Wynatchie, or 
 Mount Wynatchie." 
 
 j\Ir. George Otis Smith, Director of the United States Geological Survey, 
 "Washington, D. C, in a letter directed to Mr. Benjamin L. Harvey, February 
 28, 1908, and published in the publications of the Washington State Historical 
 Society, Vol.11, p. 440, says: 
 
 "In 1901, I was in charge of the investigation of the Xorthwestem 
 boundary of the United States and of your state between Osoyoos Lake 
 and Paget Sound and in the course of this investigation I made use of 
 the old boundary map, w^hich had not been published, but of which I had 
 secured photographs from tJie State Department. On those old maps, 
 which antedated much of the settlement of your state, the prominent 
 geographic features — rivers, lakes, and mountains — were given both the 
 English names and the old Indian names, in many cases only the Indian 
 names, since the country was then comparatively unknown to white men. 
 Now the interesting fact is that Mount Baker was given not only this 
 English name, but the old Indian name as well of Ta-ho-ma. In other 
 words, the Indians applied this name, which, as you know, signifies 'The 
 Great Mountain', not only to the mountain which so beautifully looms up 
 above your own city, but also the mountain somewhat similar in general 
 appearance, in the northern part of your state and very likely to others 
 of the volcanic cones in Washington. The fact is that the Siwash would 
 speak of the largest mountain in his immediate vicinity as 'The Mount', 
 just as the Tacoma man will today refer to 'the mountain', meaning 
 Mount Rainier, whereas in the vicinity of the Nooksak you will hear the 
 ranchman designating Mount Baker as 'the mountain.' The name Ta- 
 ho-ma or Tacoma, as applied to a mountain, thus having no distinctive 
 value, it was necessarily abandoned and the more distinctive names of 
 Baker and Rainier have been applied to the mountains that are so well 
 worth naming. 
 
 "As a member of an organization devoted to exact geographic work, 
 I am compelled to stand for the authoritative name of Rainier, which is 
 supported by the Board of Geographic Names, which in turn bears the 
 stamp of approval of President Roosevelt, to whom your letter refers, in 
 this connection." 
 
 In the "Canoe and Saddle", by Theodore Winthrop, are these words : 
 
 "Of all the peaks from California to Frazer's River, this one before 
 me was royalist. Mount Regnier, Christians have dubbed it, in stupid 
 nomenclature perpetuating the name of somebody or nobody. More 
 melodiously the Siwashes call it Tacoma, a generic tenn also applied to all 
 snow peaks." 
 
 53 
 
Tims the author of the word Taeoma acknowledges it to be a generic 
 term, completely destroying the claim that it was the specific name for Eainier. 
 
 I could quote many more authorities to show that the word "Taeoma'' 
 was only a generic term. In short, I have never heard anyone who was in 
 favor of the word "Taeoma" deny that it was but a generic term. Manv of the 
 letters included in the Hon. James Wickershaan's paper entitled "Is It Mt. 
 Taeoma or Eainier", published in the Taeoma Academy of Science Bulletin 
 for 1983, concede "Taeoma" to be a generic term. 
 
 And lastly, many authorities do not consider the word "Taeoma" a genuine 
 Indian word but rather an Indian's attempt to pronounce a white man's word. 
 It is not unusual for foreign words to creep into a language. In fact, this is 
 precisely the way in which the English language has been built up. 
 
 Ezra Meeker, a pioneer of 1853, in early days the largest employer of 
 Indian labor on Puget Sound, a firm friend of the Indians, in a book entitled 
 "The Tragedy of Leschi", on page 179, says: 
 
 "AVe have a like curious phenomenon in the case of Winthrop first 
 writing the word Taeoma, in September, 1853. Xone of the old settlers 
 had heard that name, either through the Indians or othei'\\'ise, until after 
 the publication of Winthrop's work ten years later, 'The Canoe and The 
 Saddle', when it became common knowledge and was locally applied in 
 Olympia as early as 1866, said to have been suggested by Edward Giddings 
 of that place. 
 
 "However, as "Winthrop distinctly claimed to have obtained the word 
 from the Indians, the fact was accepted by the reading public, and the 
 Indians soon took their cue from their white neighbors.'' 
 
 Thomas Milton Buchanan, superintendent of the Tulalip Indian Reserva- 
 tion, in the Washington State Historical Society Publications, Vol. II, p. 449, 
 states : 
 
 "When I stated that I did not know the Puyallup 'Indian' word for 
 the mountain 'Rainier' I had in mind the word 'Ta-ko-bid' (or Tah-koh- 
 buh', as some pronounce it), but I have never considered that a genuine 
 Indian word but merely the Indian attempt to say the word 'Taeoma'. 
 Several very intelligent Indians (some of the most intelligent and reliable 
 I have ever known) agree with me in the belief that it is merely an Indian 
 attempt to say a word that they have heard the whites use, and this ap- 
 pears to corroborate Meeker, If Winthrop's legend was true it is singular 
 that Meeker (who was in the vicinity before Winthrop, who has known the 
 Indians most of his life, and who was their intimate, confidante, and 
 friend, and who could himself converse with the Indians direct without 
 the mediation of an interpreter) never heard it and could never obtain any 
 history of it in more than forty years of life among the same Indians." 
 Mr. Thomas W. Prosch in the same work, on page 459, saj^s: 
 
 "I do not entirely agree with some writers that the Indians were 
 possessed of so many names, or such enduring and expressive ones. I 
 
 54 
 
could give a dozen different meanings for Taconia, Talioma or Takobat, 
 reported by these writers, not one of which possibly was founded upon 
 truth, and the absolute truth concerning which will certainly never be 
 known. At any rate the Indians were always ready to adopt for themselves 
 the personal names given them by the whites, and even more freely gave 
 up their local names for the names substituted by the white men. They 
 always seemed to have little or no interest in old things — in their old 
 men and women, their old names, their old personal goods, their old 
 homes — any and everything they had they were ready to change, to 
 abandon, to sell, to give up in one way or another, when called upon so to 
 do or it was to their advantage." 
 
 These authorities believe that the word "Tacoma" or some form of it, 
 came into the Indian language through the medium of the white man. It is not 
 extraordinary that George Gibbs should have included it in his paper published 
 in Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. I, 1877. The word had 
 ample time to get into the Indian language by 1873, which was the date of 
 Gibbs' death. Judge Wickersham has repeatedly referred to George Gibbs 
 and his work and he has always insisted upon connecting it with the year 1853, 
 stating that Gibbs then secured the word. It is historically unfair to date 
 George Gibbs' work from 1853 when it was published in 1877. The Judge 
 may infer what he pleases but the fact remains that no person ever introduced 
 the word "Tacoma" prior to Winthrop. 
 
 This concludes my argument. I have endeavored to show first, that 
 Eainier has a perfect title, and second, that the word "Tacoma" from the 
 historical standpoint is not the proper word to be substituted for Rainier if 
 a substitution were to be made. If this Honorable Body should substitute 
 the word "'Tacoma" I should regard such action as most arbitrarv. 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS 
 
 Mr. Conover then concluded the case for Rainier as follows : 
 
 I feel that the gentleman who sits across the table from me has helped 
 to make our task easy and that many words will not be necessary. I believe 
 the gentleman is Congressman Johnson, although I do not know him and this 
 is the first time I have seen him. I said in my opening remarks that one of 
 the characteristics of this Tacoma obsession, as far as the naime of the mountain 
 is concerned, is that I have always foimd that Tacoma, while believing itself 
 sincere, wishes to know only the evidence that bears out its side of the con- 
 troversy. In other words, that Tacoma does not waoit to know the truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I did not know that they would come 
 here and acknowledge this fact before this Honorable Board, but it could not 
 have been done more convincingly than was done by Congressman Johnson. 
 
 55 
 
This young man, Mr. Farrar, is a student of history. It is his vocation, his 
 pleasure, his relaxation, and to it he gives a mind peculiarly qualified for such 
 study. He came before this Board to tell the facts from a historical standpoint, 
 and the fact that we produced a man to tell those facts, a man without bias 
 or prejudice or anything on earth but knowledge, has produced a scene in this 
 room, which, while disgraceful and offensive to the dignity of this Board, is 
 of real value as indicating to this Board the inherent insincerity of the move- 
 ment for a change of name. 
 
 Judge Wickersham has had considerable to say about Indian testimony 
 and has quoted Matthew Seattle, the alleged descendant of old Chief Seattle. 
 I wish to read to you from the AYashington State Historical Society Publica- 
 tions, Vol. II, page 449, this statement over the signature of Charles M. Bu- 
 chanan, Superintendent of the Tulalip Indian Reservation, the greatest author- 
 ity on Indian matters in the Northwest: 
 
 "I knew Matthew Seattle quite well, and I knew his father, John, 
 who yet lives. There is not a drop of blood of old Chief Se-at-tlh in the 
 veins of either John or Matthew. They had absolutely no right to the 
 name "Seattle'' though it was quite a common trick among Indians to 
 adopt the name of another Indian who had become well known. As a 
 matter of fact, John and Matthew did not belong to the same tribe as 
 Se-at-tlh — the latter lived, died and was buried (1866) upon one of the 
 reservations under my jurisdiction on the Port Madison Indian Reserva- 
 tion of this Agency." 
 
 I will also quote from a letter from Thomas W. Prosch, historian and 
 journalist, now deceased, page 459, same volume: 
 
 "I am not filled with faith concerning the reliability of information 
 derived from the Indians. Capt. George Yancouxer, while off the present 
 City of Tacoma, stnick the ke^Tiote of their character when he said. 'The 
 little respect which most Indians bear to truth and their readiness to 
 assert what they think is most agreeable for the moment or to answer 
 their own particular wishes and inclinations induced me to place little 
 dependence on this information, although they could have no motive for 
 deceiving us.' " 
 
 Mr. Prosch continues: 
 
 "Veneration was small in them for the truth as well as for other 
 things. Forty years ago no white man on Puget Sound could be con- 
 victed on Indian testimony. I feel quite sure that the faith in alleged 
 Indian names, in meanings, legends and traditions is much greater among 
 the people who have come to Washington during the last thirty years than 
 it is among those who came here during the thirty years before." 
 
 It seems needless to argue to this Board the disastrous results that would 
 follow a change in this name. This is not a local matter but concerns the 
 civilized world upon whose maps, charts and publications of all sorts Mt. 
 
 56 
 
Rainier has been the official name for all time. The Government has expended 
 large sums in exploiting the scientific, scenic and health-giving features of 
 Eainier National Park. Mt. Taicoma in Mt. Eainier National Park would be 
 an anomaly, and, as I understand it^ the name of the park could only be 
 changed by act of Congress. 
 
 Up to this time Eainier prevails throughout the civilized world as the 
 name of this mountain, except in the city of Tacoma. Which is easier to 
 change, the custom of the world or of one commimity ? If, furthermore, there 
 is nothing final about a decision by this Honorable Board and its decisions of 
 years ago can be reversed, undoubtedly efforts will be made in the future to 
 secure other reversals of said reversals. And if it should be decided by this 
 Honorable Board to change the name to "Tacoma" there is no question in my 
 mind that it will be called upon to change most of the names bestowed by 
 Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest, through movements instigated by ambi- 
 tious communities in their several and respective localities. But in the words 
 of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, such change by the Geographic Board would 
 not make Eainier anything but Eainier in the written or spoken language of 
 the world at large. 
 
 I thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, for your patience and courtes) 
 throughout this hearing. 
 
 Short and effective arguments in favor of retaining the historic name of 
 Eainier were also made by Eear Admiral Eichardson Clover, a member and 
 secretary of the United States Geographic Board when the Board unanimously 
 confirmed the name Eainier more than twenty-six years ago, Hon. John F. 
 Miller, William Pitt Trimble and Professor Charles V. Piper, of the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture. Unfortunately reports of these addresses are not avail- 
 able for this record. 
 
 Si}^ Smfitnn 
 
 Geographic Board Again Confinns Name "Rainier" 
 
 Washington, Mav 28, 1917. 
 Mr. C. T. Conover, 
 
 702 Central Building, 
 Seattle, Washington. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 In compliance with the petition expressed in Senate Joint Memorial No. 
 14 of the Legislature of the State of Washington, the United States Geo- 
 
 57 
 
graphic Board held a public meeting on May 2, 1917, to receive evidence and 
 hear arguments for and against changing the name of Mt. Rainier in the 
 State of Washington. 
 
 At a special meeting held May 11, the evidence presented on May 2, 
 together with other data collected, were carefully considered and, after dis- 
 cussion, the United States Geographic Board declined to reconsider its former 
 action establishing the name Eainier for the mountain. 
 
 The name Mount Eainier, given by Vancouver in 1792, fixed by a century 
 of world usage, was confinned by action of the United States Board on Geo- 
 graphic Names in 1890. 
 
 For a hundred years the name of Mount Rainier has been used wherever 
 the mountain has been mentioned in the histories, geographies, books on travel 
 and exploration, scientific publications, encycloiDcdias, dictionaries, and atlases 
 of many nations — by the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, 
 Holland. Italy, Russia, Spain, and even Arabia. In recent years a few dic- 
 tionaries and encyclopedias have added the word Tacoma, usually in paren- 
 thesis, following the name Mount Rainier, but general usage is overwhelm- 
 ingly in favor of Rainier. 
 
 The mountain is within a national park and Congress has decided the 
 name of the park to be Mount Rainier National Park. The mountain is also 
 located in a forest reserve, known as the Rainier National Forest. It would 
 appear, therefore, that the name Rainier is well established, both by an execu- 
 tive order and by act of Congress. 
 
 No geographic feature in any part of the world can claim a name more 
 firmly fixed by right of discovery, by priority, and by universal usage for more 
 than a century. So far as kno^Ti, no attempt has ever been made by any 
 people in any part of the world to change a name so firmly established. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 (Signed) C. S. SLOANE, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 5g 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 DEC 29 1933 
 
 T)Er- P^ 1933 
 
 LD 21-100m-7,'33 
 
■ 
 
 36/9s56 
 
 h 897 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY