Harney Peak will get a new name. "The agency added that it was following its legal mandate to avoid names that are "shown to be highly offensive or derogatory to a particular racial or ethnic group, gender, or religious group.""
Little late to worry about being offensive if you ask me.
Your National Geographic link has its information wrong.
The title reads, "Highest Point East of Rockies Renamed for Native American." That is false. The highest point east of the Rockies has not been renamed. Why? Because neither the former "Harney Peak" nor the so-called "Black Hills" are "east of the Rockies." And you'd think a publication as prestigious as the National Geographic would know that.
The fact of the Black Hills being PART OF the Rockies is acknowledged by the US Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the South Dakota Game & Fish Department, and numerous universities. But unfortunately, the National Geographic neglected to check its sources. The so-called "Black Hills" are
PART OF the Rocky Mountains. So unless someone can explain how they can be "east of themselves," the title of the article is wrong.
I could go on and name a few other myths in the names. Native peoples called them "Black Mountains." It may have been some drunk army translator with little knowledge of Native languages that corrupted that into "Black Hills," but we'll probably never know for sure.
Maybe someday "Devils Tower" will be renamed "Bear Lodge" for similar reasons. But I suspect there are still plenty of so-called "Christians" (not to mention the tourist industry that they dominate) who feel just fine about treating Native beliefs as little more than devil worship. It's not like the tourist industry cares much about how Natives feel about that.
I'm fine with the name change.
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Sources on the actual location of the so-called "Black Hills" and Black Elk Peak:[/a]: ". . . the Black Hills of Wyoming and South Dakota, an isolated, easternmost extension of the Rocky Mountains."
Common Ground: The Struggle to Define Ownership of the Black Hills: "The Black Hills are 'the easternmost extension of the Rocky Mountains. . . .'" page 29
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Laramide Ranges: "The Laramide orogeny refers to a phase of mountain building that affected parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and lesser areas of nearby states. . . . The Laramide orogeny occurred from approximately 70 million years ago to 40 million years ago during a period when the Farallon oceanic plate was subducting rapidly beneath the western coast of the U.S. . . . The easternmost Laramide uplift is the Black Hills of western South Dakota. Immediately west of the Black Hills, the arc-shaped, isolated Big Horn Mountains are found in north-central Wyoming."
Mt Lion Foundation: "the Black Hills are part of the eastern most extension of the Rocky Mountains"
National Park Service for Wind Cave National Park: Under "Geology and Soils": "The Black Hills, which constitute the easternmost extension of the Rocky Mountains, are an isolated and unglaciated group of mountains that rise above the surrounding Plains"
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology: "The Black Hills uplift is within the northern Rocky Mountains and represents its easternmost extent."
Louisiana State University, masters thesis, page 5: "The Black Hills are considered the easternmost expression of the North American Laramide orogeny and represent the easternmost part of the Rocky Mountains."
US Geological Survey: Page 4, "Geologically, the Black Hills represent the easternmost outpost of the Rocky Mountains."
Joint Fire Science Program (USGS, Dept of the Interior, US Forest Service, National Park Service et al), page 7: "As the easternmost extension of the Rocky Mountains, the Black Hills. . . ."
South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks, South Dakota Mountain Lion Management Plan 2010-2015, page 2: "The Black Hills, located in west-central South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, represent the eastern most extension of the Rocky Mountains and represent the oldest mountains in North America (Froiland 1990)."[/font][/ul]
