Several natural locations around Washington now go by new names, following an effort by the U.S. Department of the Interior to scrub Indigenous slurs from them.
Specifically, the aim was to remove the word ‘squaw’—an ethnic and sexual slur historically used to refer to Indigenous women. The word is considered universally offensive by Native Americans and First Nation people, but is found in the names of hundreds of natural locations and geographic features around the U.S. and Canada.
In 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland declared the term to be derogatory, and formally ordered it be removed from names of natural locations.
Currently, the word has been scrubbed from 660 mountains, rivers, valleys, creeks and other sites.
The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names has been working to remove such names for years, and recently received input from Indigenous tribes on new names.
Renamed locations in Washington now include:
- Laupp Canyon, Lincoln County
- Gee Island, Clark County
- South Tucannon Spring, Garfield County
- Big Joes Creek, Clallam County
- Condon Mountain, Okanogan County
- Aalvic Wahtum, Skamania County
- Pataniks Pushtye, Skamania County
- Timla Wapykt, Skamania County
- Wenaha Peak, Columbia County
- Gooseberry Creek, Okanogan County
- Gathering Creek, Jefferson County
- Snqílt Creek, Stevens County
- Sq'wanana, Klickitat County
- Nosh Nosh Wahtum, Kittitas County
- Swaram Creek Ridge, Chelan/Okanogan County
- Galena Valley, Pend Oreille County
- Kiya Lake, Pierce County
- Wowpu-tushwa, Chelan County
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For more information, visit the DNR’s page for the Committee on Geographic Names. You can find the full list of name changes across the U.S. here.