03 September 2015

A Quick Word About Denali

Four miles tall, straight up - 20,322 feet of God's creation


The mountain which Congress decided to name "Mt. McKinley" already had a name. The local Native tribes have called it Denali for thousands of years. It means "the high one".

The President from Ohio after whom Congress renamed it was never here, and never did anything of significance for Alaska.

Alaskans have (for the most part) stubbornly refused to call it anything but Denali all along, and have been petitioning for the original name to be restored. For decades. And we've never understood why Ohioans thought that their local-politician-made-good needed a monument thousands of miles away.

No one disputes that President McKinley was worthy of remembrance, but let them make his monument in his home state, rather than a place most of them will never visit.

The timing of the official acknowledgement of its original name may be suspect, but that's another story.

And with that, I'm done. All y'all can go back to your normal, everyday lives.

15 comments:

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

One of many great creations from God, Denali.
She is gorgeous, I'd be to afraid to climb her though.

Rev. Paul said...

A lot of people try to climb Denali every year, and some of them make it. Some of them get stranded, and a few die.

I'd recommend a flight-seeing tour, instead. :)

ProudHillbilly said...

Seems to me I heard years ago that this was in the works, long before the Obamanation.

Rev. Paul said...

PH, the Alaska delegation to Congress has been petitioning or drafting laws about it for years, but the Ohio bunch has blocked it. Every single time.

This time, we went to the new Interior secretary, who's the former head of REI. She went to bat for us, and we managed to push it through. Over the objections of John Kasich, by the way, who claimed it's "a slap in the face to all Ohioans."

Really? What about the Alaskans, hmm?

Ed Bonderenka said...

So. When did you become an Obama defender?

Sorry.

Rev. Paul said...

Ed - I think you already know this, but Obama has nothing to do with this. He's just the figurehead behind a political move intended to generate support for a cockamamie warming theory.

Old NFO said...

I never heard it called anything BUT Denali when I was up there...

Chickenmom said...

I call it "The Mountain I Have Always Wanted To See"....

Rev. Paul said...

NFO, you've neatly confirmed my point. Thanks! :)

Chickenmom, it's really, REALLY spectacular. And have I mentioned just how freakin' BIG it is?

Old 1811 said...

Thank you. I'm a completely disinterested party and was wondering what the people of Alaska thought about it. The right side of the blogosphere can be just as easily riled up about nothing as the SJWs can (especially when it involves President Obama), and I was glad to see your perspective.

Rev. Paul said...

Welcome!

Regarding Alaskans' point of view, they've treated it just as they have every other federal mandate with which they disagreed: they ignored it. :)

Jenny said...

Right decision... just not his decision to make.

Pity the move is tarnished by him, but Denali will still be admired long after Obama's as obscure a memory as McKinley himself.

Rev. Paul said...

Jenny, you're right, of course. Since Congress named it in 1917, uncommon sense would dictate that only Congress can change it.

Pres. McKinley a number of conservative things, and apparently was a pretty good guy - but I stand by my opinion that his monument should have been closer to his home.

Guffaw in AZ said...

Late to the party - I was gonna ask what Alaskans thought.
You are more cohesive than I expected, and good for you!

Out here they changed a local peak to honor a local woman soldier killed in Iraq, who was American Indian (Lori Piestewa). Some thought the previous name was politically incorrect (Squaw Peak).
The debate continues, although a peak and freeway have already been renamed.

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

Guffaw, I'd have to agree that naming the peak for a particular person is probably (at least in this day & age) more respectful than a word which has fallen out of favor - regardless of its historical accuracy. But I don't have a dog in that hunt, so I'll stay out of it.