Origin of Place Names in Glacier National Park

ORIGIN OF PLACE NAMES IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Geo. C. Ruhle

No national park possesses a greater wealth of picturesque and fascinating place names than Glacier National Park. Scan the map of the park and see how small is the proportion of hackneyed and over-used designations. This is in part attributive to the rich Indian heritage, in part to the intelligence and good taste of individuals in control of selection of appropriate names.

Earliest maps were prepared by rival trading and fur companies who kept watchful eyes and tried to outsmart each other by publication of deliberate misinformation. In 1796, Arrowsmith published a map in London which was based on data obtained from men of Hudson's Bay Company. Lewis and Clark submitted a sketch map to President Jefferson upon their return home, and published the map of their exploration in Philadelphia in 1814. It showed the Marias River, named by them, cutting into the mountains opposite the headwaters of the Tusepah (Flathead) River, and designated Chief Mountain as King Mountain. In the same year, David Thompson, early explorer, prepared a huge map, 10 x 6 feet, based on his surveys of the preceding twenty years. It hung in the dining hall of the Northwest Fur Company at Fort William, and was remarkably correct in the placement of principal features. Next followed the surveys on the Northwest Territory under Governor Isaac I. Stevens in 1853 and 1854, and the Palliser Expedition to Waterton Lake in 1858. It was on this latter that the practice began of naming features for friends, members of the expedition, and individuals wholly unconnected with the region.

George Bird Grinnell's visits in the eighties and nineties produced many new names, some like Going-to-the-Sun and Almost-a-Dog being excellent. Many were for friends and associates, Gould, James, Stimson, and Allen. Some reflected the nature of his visits, which was hunting: Gunsight, Fusillade, Singleshot, Goat. The search for copper and oil in the nineties added many new names: Quartz Lake, Mineral Creek, Granite Park, Coal Creek, Oil Lake. The construction of the Great Northern Railway added its share: Belton, Blacktail Hills, Snowslip Mountain.

At the start of the century, reclamation activities and official topographic surveys produced accurate maps, and names were assigned all principal features. Among the topographers were Francois T. Matthes, R. T. Evans, and R. H. Sargent. At the time Evans mapped, great forest fires harassed his section, with Firebrand Pass, Rampage Mountain, Debris Creek, as a result. Soldiers helped fight fire on Soldier Mountain, partially saved Salvage Mountain. The white ashes and dead trees suggested a name for Skeleton Mountain. Jackstraw Lake received its name from piles of burned trees along its shores. Mr. Evans received a list of Blackfeet Chiefs from the Reservation, and proceeded to use them on features: Little Dog (now Brave Dog) Mountain, Three Suns, Wolftail, Eaglehead, Bearhead, Red Crow, and Running Rabbit. Mr. Evans gave many descriptive names: Aster Park, Buttercup Park, Paradise Park, Cobalt Lake, Barrier Buttes, Statuary Mountain. He named a few features after pioneers: Dawson Pass, Mt. Shields, and Ole Creek. Some were named after friends: Lena Lake for his wife, Mt. Ellsworth for his guide.

In 1925, through the promotion of Ralph G. Budd, President of the Great Northern Railway, a historical commission surveyed the local history and suggested names. Howard A. Noble, then manager of the Glacier Park Hotel Company, interested himself in the project and stirred the imagination of J. Ross Eakin, Superintendent of the Park. Through their work, a few unauthentic, objectionable, and unappropriate names were eliminated: Feather Plume appeared for Horsetail Falls, Morning Eagle for Bridal Veil, White Quiver for Washboard Falls, Swiftcurrent Lake (historical) for Lake McDermott. Eagle Plume, Buffalo Woman, Curley Bear, Dawn Mist, Mad Wolf, Medicine Owl, and other excellent names were added.

Mr. Eakin's interest in befitting place names persisted. Through his park naturalist, George C. Ruhle, a place name policy was published; historical names were to be restored wherever possible, appropriate names given to unnamed features, unappropriate or undesirable names obliterated, excessive duplication and scattering of names avoided and corrected for less confusion and more facile administration.

Their policy was actively pushed in the thirties by Mr. Eakin's successor, Eivind T. Scoyen, who even suggested two of the finest, "Crazy Gray Horse" from Blackfeet Legend, and "Bad Marriage" from a local Blackfeet. Most of the suggestions arose from personages, myths, and customs of Indians associated with the region, and from park history. Most were officially adopted by the National Board of Geographic names. The move to restore the ancient Kutenai name to Lake McDonald, i.e., Sacred Dancing Lake, was unfortunately rejected. The principal arguments advanced for the change were (1) the traditional and historical background sanctioned the name "Sacred Dancing"; (2) there were several earlier names, Lake McDonald not appearing until the eighties; (3) there are at least four McDonalds for whom it is claimed the lake was named; (4) there is another beautiful Lake McDonald in the Mission Range just south of the park, befittingly so-named. So also the attempt was frustrated to substitute the reverent Blackfeet translation, "Good Spirit Woman Lake", for St. Mary Lake.

ALBERTA, Province of Canada: For HRH Princess Louise (Caroline Alberta), wife of the Marquis of Lorne, later, Duke of Argyll, and Governor-General of Canada, 1878-83. Alberta was created a provisional district, May 8, 1882, and a province in 1905. The provisional district was named by the Marquis of Lorne about 1882.

ALLEN MOUNTAIN: Elevation, 9,355 feet. Named by Wm. H. Seward and H. L. Stimson in 1891 after Cornelia Seward Allen, wife of F. T. Allen of New York and granddaughter of Secretary of State Wm. H. Seward of Lincoln's administration.

ALMIGHTY VOICE PEAK: The northern peak of the ridge north of Crossley Lake and the most northeasterly summit in the Park. The fire lookout is on Bear Mountain, a spur below the peak. Almighty Voice was a Blood Indian who stoutly resisted the encroachment of the Red Coats.

ALMOST-A-DOG MOUNTAIN: 8,911 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell after a Blackfeet Indian, one of the survivors of the Baker massacre of January 23, 1870.

ALTYN PEAK: 7,900 feet. A prospector, Jim Harris built a cabin near Wynn Mountain in 1898. He had a trotting horse called Altyn for which he named the mountain. When the town was built, it was also called Altyn. As George Bird Grinnell had previously named this summit Point Mountain (see Wynn Mountain), topographers transferred the name Altyn to the present peak which is north of Many Glacier Hotel.

APPEKUNNY MOUNTAIN: 9,053 feet. From White-spotted or Scabby Robe, i.e., a badly tanned robe with hard spots, the Indian name of J. W. Schultz, author of numerous books on the Blackfeet Indians. Mr. Schultz traveled from New England to Fort Benton in 1879, and later married Nataki, daughter of the Piegan, Yellowwolf. He lived with the Indians until 1905. He hunted with George Bird Grinnell, one time agent for the Blackfeet, who named this peak on one of their trips together.

APPISTOKI PEAK: 8,135 feet. Given by R. T. Evans to the summit that looked or peeped over a ridge he was mapping. He had inquired from his Indian guide what word the Blackfeet used for "peeping over something". Misunderstanding the question, the Indian gave him "Appistoki", the name for the God of the Indians, who looks over everything and every one.

AVALANCHE BASIN: Prof. L. B. Sperry of Oberlin College visited it in May, 1895, and named it thus, because of the avalanches falling from Sperry Glacier at the upper end. Avalanches have denuded and kept bare the slope for a mile from the lake shore.

BAD MARRIAGE MOUNTAIN: Name of a Blackfeet Indian given by Superintendent Scoyen to the summit S.S.W. of site of Cutbank Chalets and north of Eagle Plume Mountain.

BARING CREEK: Flows southeast into St. Mary Lake, above Going-to-the-Sun Point. The creek was named by Joe Kipp, guide, in 1888, for the Baring Brothers, London bankers, whom he guided for a month on a hunting trip into the region and who camped upon this creek.

BEARHEAD MOUNTAIN: 8,405 feet. Named by R. T. Evans for a Blackfeet, presumably Bear's Head, chief of the band of Indians massacred by Baker on the Marias, January 23, 1870.

BELLY RIVER: This is an important stream, ultimately discharging its waters through larger streams, into Hudson Bay. The origin of the name is in dispute, although the names of Belly River, the Gros Ventre Indians, and Big Belly Buttes upon the river between Cardston and MacLeod are connected. One belief is as follows: The Blackfeet people had a custom of apportioning the anatomy of Napi (see Napi Rock) all over the landscape. His elbow was the Bow River at Calgary. His knees were the Teton Buttes. Midway lay his stomach, and what more appropriate than the aforementioned buttes, which to the Indian resembled the contorted manifold of a buffalo? Hence they became Mokowanis, or Big Belly Buttes. The river that flowed at their base became Mokowanis River, and later, when Indians from the Algonkin nations of the southeast drifted into the region, and established themselves upon the river, these, too, became Mokowanis or simply translated into the French, the Gros Ventres. Another version has it that the Gros Ventres were so called because they "eat much and have big paunches". Certainly their alternative name, Atsena, or Gut People, gives this interpretation support. The river which flowed through their country simply took its name from them. The Arrowsmith map of 1802 called this river Moo-coo-wans, by which name it was sometimes referred to later. On David Thompson's map of 1814, it was marked Stee-muk-ske-picken, signifying bullhead. The Palliser map of 1865 labeled it Oldman River. The reconnaissance maps of the United States Northern Boundary Commission, 1872-76, labeled it Belly River, which name has been officially adopted by both United States and Canada.

BELTON VILLAGE: Named for Daniel Webster Bell (1840-1925) who took up a claim near Belton at the time of the construction of the Great Northern Railway (1890), getting out ties for that railroad. He was a Civil War Veteran and served as camp cook for location parties of the Northern Pacific in 1880 and for the Great Northern in 1890.

BIRD WOMAN FALLS: A waterfall from the cirque between Cannon, Clements, and Oberlin Mountains, and a prominent feature visible from the Going-to-the-Sun Highway. A Blackfeet woman's name.

BLACKFOOT GLACIER: Discovered and named by George Bird Grinnell, 1891. This glacier was called by Kutenais "Old Man Ice". Red Eagle Glacier was "Old Woman Ice", Sperry Glacier "Son Ice", Pumpelly Glacier "Daughter Ice".

BLAKISTON, MOUNT: 9,600 feet. The highest peak in Waterton Lakes Park, named for Thomas Wright Blakiston, ornithologist, explorer, and meteorologist for the Palliser Expedition to Western Canada, 1858.

BROWN MOUNTAIN: 8,541 feet. Named for William Brown of Chicago, solicitor general of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, who camped and fished at Lake McDonald in 1894.

BROWN PASS: 6,500 feet. Named for Kootenai Brown of Waterton whose story is told elsewhere in this book.

CALF ROBE MOUNTAIN: A mountain on the Continental Divide just east of Summit Mountain. Named for Calf Robe, a Blackfeet, whose weird experience with a grizzly is still current in the tribe. Calf Robe was deserted by his fellow warriors and left to die in enemy country. He was rescued by a grizzly bear that brought him food and carried him to help near Fort Benton. The story is dated as about 1870.

CAMERON LAKE: On International Boundary. Named after Major General D. R. Cameron, British Commissioner on the International Boundary Commission, Lake of the Woods to the Rockies (1872-76).

CARDSTON VILLAGE: In Alberta, Canada. Named after Charles Ora Card, son-in-law of Brigham Young, under whose guidance Mormon families came here from Utah. Mr. Card was the first mayor of the town. Here is located the $1,000,000.00 Mormon Temple erected in 1923.

CARTER GLACIER: Named for Senator Thos. H. Carter, who introduced the Senate bill creating Glacier National Park.

CATTLE QUEEN CREEK: For Mrs. Nat Collins, the famous "Cattle Queen of Montana", who raised and sold cattle. She promoted a company in St. Paul to develop a mining claim on the creek. She acted as cook and foreman for the group of eighteen men who spent three summers and one winter at this undertaking.

CHIEF MOUNTAIN: 9,056 feet. Indian name, "Chief of the Mountains". Early names were King Mountain and Kaiser Peak. Chief Mountain first appeared as "The King" on the Arrowsmith map of 1796. James Doty, meteorologist on Lower St. Mary Lake in May, 1854, reported the mountain as called Chief or King Mountain, and named the lake Chief Mountain Lake. The Indians, ever ready to make an outstanding feature of the landscape the abode of a spirit or the setting of a legend, have woven a tale of sorrow and woe about this. They tell how a great chief of theirs once led his people to glorious victory against the Kutenais, at the sacrifice of his own life. When the sad news of his death reached her ears, his faithful wife, crazed with grief, dashed up the mountain with her only child and hurled herself from its topmost pinnacle. Tender hands laid her to rest alongside her heroic husband at the foot of the frowning mass which has ever since been Ninnah-Stahkoo, The-Mountain-of-the-Chief.

CLEMENTS MOUNTAIN: 8,764 feet. Named by surveyor Ross Carter in 1896 for W. M. Clements of the Commission appointed by Secretary of the Interior, W. C. Pollock, and George Bird Grinnell being other members.

CLEVELAND, MOUNT: 10,438 feet. Highest mountain in the park, and summit of the Lewis Range. Named for President Cleveland, 1898, by George Bird Grinnell, who saw the peak from the summit of Blackfeet Mountain. Its correct height (10,400 feet) was given by the International Boundary Survey, who called it "Kaiser Peak", "the highest summit of the Rockies".

CRACKER LAKE: Visited in 1897 by L. S. Emmons, a prospector, and Hank Norris, squaw man who squatted near present site of St. Mary, while following a lead of copper ore from Roes Creek. They cached crackers and cheese near the lake, intending to return, so they started to refer to the "lead where we left the crackers" or "Cracker Lead". As this passed under the lake, first called Blue Lake, the name Cracker Lake originated.

CROSSLEY RIDGE: For Joe Cosley, or Crossley, Ojibway breed, who was one of the first rangers in the park.

CURLEY BEAR MOUNTAIN: 8,000 feet. Named for a celebrated Blackfeet chief.

CUTBANK RIVER: Flows into the Marias River, thirteen miles west of Shelby. The old Indian name was Poh-nah-kee-eeks Nay-a-tah-tah (Cuts-into-the-white-clay-bank River). The river derives its name from a bend east of Fort Browning where it undermines and cuts into a bank of white clay.

DIVIDE CREEK: This stream for four miles is the east boundary of the park and is named in the act of Congress creating the park.

DIVIDE MOUNTAIN: 8,647 feet. A landmark on the eastern boundary of the park. Named in the act of Congress fixing the west boundary of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. (29 Stat. 321).

DUSTY STAR MOUNTAIN: 8,500 feet. Unofficial name for the summit of the ridge running northeasterly from Citadel Mountain on St. Mary Lake. It is prominent in the view of mountains from the north shore of the lake. Dusty stars are meteors that fall from the sky at night, spring up as dusty stars (i.e., puff balls or earth stars, common fungi) in the morning.

ELIZABETH LAKE: 5,019 feet. Helen and Elizabeth were daughters of a U.S. Geological Survey engineer.

ELLEN WILSON LAKE: 5,914 feet. Named by Secretary Franklin T. Lane for the wife of President Woodrow Wilson.

ELLSWORTH, MOUNT: 8,595 feet. For Billy Ellsworth, a packer with the U.S. Geological Survey party.

FUSILLADE MOUNTAIN: 8,747 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell in 1891 from fruitless musketry fire by Stimson and Seward while hunting goats there.

GARDEN WALL, Precipice: Precipitous knife edge constituting the Continental Divide. In the early nineties, Dr. George Bird Grinnell and party were camped at Grinnell Lake then not named. Members of the party were singing one of the songs of the time, entitled "Over the Garden Wall". "Well," said one of the party, "here is one wall we cannot get over." It was then and there called "The Garden Wall".

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK: The name was proposed by Senator Thomas H. Carter.

GLENNS LAKE: 4,859 feet. For T. C. Glenns, station assistant and recorder with R. T. Sargent, U.S. Geological Survey topographer.

GOAT MOUNTAIN: 8,816 feet. Named by J. W. Schultz, who, with George Bird Grinnell, counted 42 goats on it in 1887. The name is not distinctive since goats inhabit all steep rocky mountains in the park.

GOING-TO-THE-SUN MOUNTAIN: 9,594 feet. An Indian translation is Mah-tah-pee O-stook-sis, "The Face of the Spirit Who Went to the Sun after His Work Was Done". Legend asserts that the Blackfeet Indians originally enjoyed an ideal and happy existence in this region. Evidently, the Blackfeet were unfitted for such a "Garden of Eden" for they soon fell into evil ways.

As time went on, they were made increasingly miserable by failure in every endeavor and the ravages of a terrible plague. In their trouble they recalled and turned once again to their Great Spirit, who made his home on the sun. Moved by their supplications, this omnipotent One sent his representative, Napi, or Old Man, down to live among his people and redeem them.

Napi came and lived among the Blackfeet. Besides ridding them of the plague, he showed them how to make bows and arrows, how to hunt and use the buffalo, how to build their lodges, how to raise crops, and how to live a richer and fuller life.

After his work of teaching was finished, Napi made ready to depart for his lodge on the sun. The Indians escorted him to the base of this mountain, and watched him as he disappeared up its sides on his way back home. And lest his people forget this lesson and return to their evil ways, Napi left for them a perpetual reminder. Engraved on the front of the mountain can be seen the gigantic profile of an Indian Chief. This most striking face, left in the never-melting snow, is visible from the Blackfeet and Going-to-the-Sun Highways, and gives the mountain its name of GOING-TO-THE-SUN.

There is little, however, in this legend that is of Indian origin. Nor does it conform to the commonly accepted character of Napi, for whose description, refer to the discussion under "Napi Rock". It was most probably invented by story loving whites. Several claim to have named the peak, the most likely being either George Bird Grinnell or James W. Schultz, for its imposing uplift into the blue heaven.

GOULD, MOUNT: 9,541 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell, 1887, for George H. Gould, a hunting companion, of Santa Barbara, California.

GRANITE PARK: Near the west entrance to Swiftcurrent Pass. Named by early prospectors and trappers who mistook the out-crop of lava forming its floor for granite.

GRINNELL, MOUNT: 8,838 feet. Named in 1887 by Lieut. J. H. Beacon for George Bird Grinnell.

GUNSIGHT MOUNTAIN: 9,250 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell from the shape of the rocky summit projecting above the snow, thus resembling the front sight of a rifle.

GUNSIGHT PASS: About 7,000 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell, 1891, for its resemblance to the rear sight of a rifle.

HEAVENS PEAK: 8,994 feet. Name appears on map prepared by Lt. Geo. P. Ahern, 25th Infantry, from reconnaissance maps prepared by him in 1888-1890.

HEAVY RUNNER PEAK: A spur of Reynolds Mountain, named for Heavy Runner, the chief of the band of Blackfeet massacred on the Marias, January 23, 1870, by Baker's men. See "Signposts of Adventure", page 102. In "My Life as an Indian" Mr. Schultz ascribes leadership of this massacred band to Bear's Head.

HELEN LAKE: 5,118 feet. See Elizabeth Lake.

HENKEL, MOUNT: 8,700 feet. Named after a half-breed settler on Lower St. Mary Lake, locally called Joe Butch.

HENRY, MOUNT: 8,770 feet. Reputed to be named for Alexander Henry, early western chronicler.

HIDDEN LAKE: 6,375 feet. Named by Francois Matthews, because of its secluded position.

ICEBERG LAKE: Named by George Bird Grinnell in 1890 from "the observed formation of little icebergs breaking off the glacier that flows down into the lake". Indian name: Ice-Floating-Around-In-Lake.

JACKSON, MOUNT: 10,023 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell, 1891, for a friend, a quarter-breed Piegan and grandson of old Hugh Monroe. His Blackfeet name was Siksikaikwan, or Blackfeet Man. Mr. Jackson was a scout with Captain Reno at the time of the Custer Battle on the Little Big Horn.

JAMES, MOUNT: 9,365 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell for Dr. Walter B. James of New York.

JOSEPHINE LAKE: Named, probably, for the Josephine Mine on the lower slope of Mount Grinnell.

KAKITOS MOUNTAIN: 8,000 feet. Kakitos is Blackfeet for star. The contours of the peak on a map resemble a three-pointed star.

KAPUNKAMINT MOUNTAIN: 8,700 feet. On Cutbank Valley, back of White Calf Mountain. Named "Shakes Himself Mountain" by George C. Ruhle for a Blackfeet friend. The National Board changed this to the Blackfeet equivalent, Kapunkamint.

KENNEDY CREEK: For John Kennedy, a pioneer of this region. His Indian name was Otatso or "Walking Stooped". See page 150, "Signposts of Adventure" by J. W. Schultz for his story.

KIPP, MOUNT: 8,800 feet. Named for Joe Kipp, half-breed Indian, early trapper and hunter. His father was Captain James Kipp, who built the trading post, Fort Piegan, at the mouth of the Marias River in 1831. It had to be abandoned in 1832 because of Blackfeet hostility. Kipp's Indian name was "Raven Quiver".

LEE CREEK: Named for Lee Kaiser, a bull whacker, who accidentally shot himself near the creek. The old Indian name was Rope Across Creek, from a rope used in transporting supplies over the stream.

LITTLE CHIEF MOUNTAIN: 9,542 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell in 1887 for Major Frank North, chief of the Pawnee Scouts in Nebraska in the sixties.

LITTLE DOG MOUNTAIN: 8,510 feet. A peak on the Continental Divide just northwest of Marias Pass and west of Summit Mountain. Named for Little Dog, the famous Blackfeet chieftain who in 1853 told Governor Isaac Stevens of Washington Territory of the existence of Marias Pass, and started the hunt for it that lasted until its exploration by John F. Stevens in 1889.

LOGAN PASS: 6,654 feet, crossing the Continental Divide. Named for Major W. R. Logan, first superintendent of the park.

LONE WALKER MOUNTAIN: A peak, between Rockwell and Helen Mountains, named for Lone Walker, the great Blackfeet chief with whose band Hugh Monroe, or Rising Wolf, attached himself in 1815 when first coming into the Blackfeet country.

LOOKING-GLASS: A name given by early white men to Two Medicine Ridge, the watershed between the Two Medicine and Cutbank Valleys. Tom Dawson avers that the name came from a huge slide on the south side of the ridge which overlooks Lower Two Medicine Lake. This slide, which may have occurred 100 years ago, produced an oblong scar, perhaps 300 feet high and 200 feet wide, which was said to have a resemblance to the oblong framed mirrors which traders used in dealing with the Indians.

The scar ("looking-glass") is visible to bus passengers on the Two Medicine road. It is best seen, on eastbound schedules, immediately after leaving the Two Medicine checking station. The "looking-glass" lies immediately under the Blackfeet Highway at a point just south of the point where the highway reaches the summit of the ridge.

McDONALD, LAKE: 3,144 feet. Every summer for time immemorial, the tribes of Kutenai Indians gathered upon the evergreen-clad, mountain-hemmed shores of a great, deep lake to kindle the ceremonial fires whose leaping flames cast gliding, inter-weaving shadows of lithe bodies that moved in weird, fantastically thythmic motions to measured beating of drums and ululations of the participants. This was a place hallowed to them; this magnificent blue lake that in calm reflected the stately spendor of surrounding peaks and forest, that in storm tossed angrily white-capped waves against its graveled beaches, this was their Sacred Dancing Lake.

In about the year 1878, Sir John McDonald, famous Canadian statesman, crossed the International Boundary with a party and blazed a trail to this beautiful lake, called Terry's Lake on the earliest maps. Not long thereafter, it was visited by another of the same name, but of no acquaintance or close kinship. He was Duncan McDonald, son of old Angus McDonald, early frontiersman in the Flathead Valley and Inland Empire. With a party of Selish Indians, Duncan had been commissioned to take a huge amount of supplies into Canada. He had planned to follow the broad valley of the North Fork of the Flathead River, only to find its passage blocked by unfriendly Indians. He, therefore, shifted his course to the eastward, traveling the adjacent parallel valley. At close of day, the party came to the shores of a beautiful lake; here they camped all night, and here Duncan carved his name in the white bark of a birch tree. Next day he resumed his journey and successfully evaded the party of Indians that waited in ambush for him. The tree bearing Duncan McDonald's name remained standing for many years near what is now the site of Apgar. A third McDonald squatted somewhere near the lake. He was an infrequent visitor to Columbia Falls, who referred to the lake as his, i.e., McDonald's lake. A fourth McDonald after whom the lake may have been called is old Angus McDonald, squaw man, pioneer trader, and father of Duncan, who founded Fort Connah south of Flathead Lake in 1847. From which of these the name Lake McDonald is derived will probably be forever unknown.

MAHTAPI PEAK: A peak which is the summit of the northerly spur from Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. Name taken from "Mahtapi Ostuksis", Face Mountain, which, according to some, was the old Blackfeet name for Going-to-the-Sun Mountain.

MAHTOTOPA MOUNTAIN: 8,720 feet, is the prominent peak directly opposite Going-to-the-Sun Point on St. Mary Lake. Mahtotopa, or Four Bears, the second chief of the Mandans, was spoken of by the artist and early white explorer, Catlin, as "a high-minded and gallant warrior, as well as a polite and polished gentleman" and "the most extraordinary man, perhaps, who lives at this day (1830's), in the atmosphere of Nature's nobleman". Catlin painted a portrait of Mahtotopa and, from James Kipp, the son-in-law of Mahtotopa, learned the story of each of the twelve battles represented on Four Bears' robe, for his "breast had been scarred in defense of his country, and his brows crowned with honors that elevate him conspicuously above all of his nation". Catlin tells the story of the naming of this chief, having been told by James Kipp that it was an award for bravery in battle. A party of Assiniboins rushed several hundred Minatarees and Mandans. Mahtotopa was the only one of the several hundred that stood his ground, killing one, putting the rest to flight, and driving off sixty horses. He was named Four Bears because the Assiniboins said he "rushed like four bears". Local legend has it that on a single morning this Indian killed four bears on this mountain, which became so named for this feat. This is doubtless untrue, and it is to be doubted that Four Bears ever came near park territory. It is more probable that Joe Kipp, connected closely with early park history and guide for George Bird Grinnell, designated this mountain as Four Bears after his distinguished grandfather, who was Mahtotopa.

MARIAS PASS RIVER: Named for Miss Maria Wood, cousin of Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The river was named in 1805 by Lewis and Clark.

MEDICINE GRIZZLY PEAK: 8,600 feet. In the center of Cutbank Valley between Cutbank and Atlantic Creeks. Medicine Grizzly Lake is at its northern base. Named for a gigantic and powerful grizzly which inhabited the valley in the early century, and was killed by Chance Beebe, U.S. Biological Survey hunter of Columbia Falls. The grizzly has become legendary with the Indians. See Chapter III of "Old North Trail" for the story.

MERRITT, MOUNT: 9,944 feet. Named in honor of Bvt. Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, deceased, by W. C. Brown (now Brigadier General retired), in command of a military expedition in the park in 1891.

MILK RIVER: The South Fork rises at the base of White Calf Mountain. The Milk River flows northeasterly across the Canadian boundary, then east through southern Alberta and northern Montana into the Missouri River near Glasgow. It was named by the Lewis and Clark Expedition because of its turbid white color. It is called Kinuhsi huht, "The Little River", in Blackfeet.

NAPI ROCK: A rock column on northeast slope of Singleshot Mountain. It is said that the Indians referred to the gigantic profile on Singleshot Mountain as that of Napi who "made all this country around here". Translated into English, Napi simply means "Old Man". Recommended by Major General Hugh L. Scott, of the Board of Indian Commissioners.

Old Man is a being that appears in the mythology of many different Indian tribes. Among the Micmacs of Maine, he was known as Glooskap; to the Chippewas and Crees he was Nanne Booshu; to the Siouian tribes, he was Unctemi. He was a supernatural personage, but was not the Supreme Diety; rather he was a buffoon who helped the Indians at rare intervals, but most of the time, as a rogue, was continually getting into trouble, and requiring the services of the Indians and sometimes various animals to extricate him.

NEVER LAUGHS MOUNTAIN: A peak south of Two Medicine Lake. Named for a pioneer who lived among the Blackfeet. His story is told on page 247 of "My Life as an Indian", by Jas. W. Schultz.

NORRIS MOUNTAIN: 8,876 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell and appearing on one of his early maps, for Hank Norris who owned all of the allotment between the two St. Mary Lakes before the park was created.

OBERLIN MOUNTAIN: 8,100 feet. Named for Oberlin College by Drs. Lyman B. Sperry and Geo. Fred Wright, both of Oberlin College, who explored in the park at the close of the century.

OLD SQUAW, THE: A monumental rock on the slope of Squaw Mountain, and visible from the Glacier Park Hotel. (See Squaw Mountain.)

OTOKOMI MOUNTAIN: Between Singleshot and Goat Mountains, north of St. Mary Lake; named by George Bird Grinnell in the Eighties for Otokomi, "Yellow Fish", a Blackfeet, who accompanied him in his early expeditions into the region. Otokomi's English name was Rose (sic) and Roes Basin nearby was also named for him. Topographers erred and substituted the name "Whitefish", which was corrected in the Thirties. The original Indian name was selected as preferable to the translation used by Grinnell.

PAINTED TEPEE PEAK: The name is suggested by the form of this mountain as seen from Two Medicine Lake and is for the painted lodges of the Blackfeet.

PITAMAKAN PASS: 7,861 feet. On the Continental Divide between Mt. Morgan and McClintock Peak. The old, historic Cutbank Pass, renamed for Running Eagle, the only "woman in the Blackfeet tribes ever given a man's name" (J. W. Schultz). For her priceless story, see J. W. Schultz' accounts in "Running Eagle, the Warrior Girl", "The Dreadful River Cave", "Signposts of Adventure". "Cutbank Pass" was gradually transferred from this pass to become attached to the gap between Mt. James and Mt. Morgan.

POLLOCK MOUNTAIN: 9,211 feet. Named by Surveyor Ross Carter in 1896 for W. C. Pollock, one of the three members of the Indian Commission appointed by the Secretary of the Interior (1895), W. M. Clements and George Bird Grinnell being the other members. This commission arranged for the purchase from the Blackfeet of park territory east of the Continental Divide.

PUMPELLY PILLAR: 7,600 feet. A spur of Mt. Helen west of Two Medicine Lake. Named for Prof. Raphael Pumpelly who traversed the Two Medicine Region in 1882 and 1883.

RED CROW MOUNTAIN: 7,875 feet. Named by R. T. Evans for a Blackfeet Indian.

RED EAGLE MOUNTAIN: 8,800 feet. Named in 1887 by George Bird Grinnell for an Indian friend. It was first climbed by Grinnell and J. W. Schultz.

REYNOLDS MOUNTAIN: 9,147 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell for Chas. R. Reynolds, managing editor of Forest and Stream.

RISING BULL RIDGE: A spur which runs northward from Mount Rockwell and closely resembles the outline of a buffalo in the act of getting up. Old Indian name is Rising Buffalo Bull Ridge. This is apparent on the Blackfeet Highway 7.9 miles from Glacier Park Hotel.

RISING WOLF MOUNTAIN: 9,505 feet. Named by J. W. Schultz for old Hugh Monroe, a squaw man, who came into the country in 1813 (see St. Mary Lakes). Hugh Monroe's Indian name, "Rising Wolf", is said to have been given from his rising posture in the morning.

ROCKWELL MOUNTAIN: 9,250 feet. Named by R. T. Evans for a pioneer.

ROCKY MOUNTAINS: The "Montagnes de Roche" in Legerdeur de St. Pierre's Journal, 1752; "Mountains of the High Stones" in Cawer's map, 1778; "Shining Mountains" of the early nineteenth century, probably after Le Verendrye.

ROES BASIN: At the head of Roes Creek. Named by George Bird Grinnell in 1885 for a companion half-breed Piegan, Chas. Rose, whose Indian name was Yellowfish. Roes is a misspelling.

SEXTON GLACIER: On the north slope of Going-to-the-Sun Mountain. Named by J. B. Munroe for Lawrence E. Sexton of New York City.

SHERBURNE LAKE: 4,726 feet. Traversed by Swiftcurrent Creek. Named for J. H. Sherburne, Secretary-Treasurer of the Swiftcurrent Land and Power Company which was organized in 1904, and which drilled an oil well near the site of the present dam. This was the first oil well drilled in Montana.

SINGLESHOT MOUNTAIN: 7,700 feet. Named by J. W. Schultz in 1885, because George Bird Grinnell killed a running sheep there with a single shot.

SINOPAH MOUNTAIN: 8,300 feet. Is the most prominent feature in the Two Medicine landscape as seen from the chalets. It is the northeastern extremity of a spur running from Mt. Rockwell on the Continental Divide, by which name it is sometimes erroneously called. Sinopah is Blackfeet for the swift or kit fox of the eastside and is also the name of a secret Piegan fraternal order. Sinopahki, Sinopah Woman, was the wife of Rising Wolf and the daughter of Lone Walker, powerful Blackfeet Chief. It is for her the naming of the mountain was suggested.

SIYEH, MOUNT: 10,004 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell in 1888, for a friend, a Piegan man of influence and importance. The English for "Siyeh" is Mad Wolf or Crazy Dog.

SPERRY GLACIER: On the north slope of Gunsight Mountain and the east slope of Edwards Mountain. Named for Professor Lyman B. Sperry of Oberlin College, who visited the region in 1895 and 1896. It was called "Son Ice" by the Kutenais.

SQUAW MOUNTAIN: 7,320 feet. Named by the Blackfeet Indians on account of the high block of argillite, that has become separated from the main mass of the mountain, which resembles an Indian woman wearing a shawl.

The Blackfeet legend, according to Tom Dawson, is that when the Indians in the old days went out to hunt the buffalo, they sent their squaws to the high points to serve as lookouts and to signal where the buffalo were. The rock on Squaw Mountain is symbolic of a Blackfeet woman awaiting with infinite patience the return of the buffalo.

STANTON, MOUNT: 7,744 feet. Named by early local visitors for Miss Lottie Stanton of Kalispell.

STIMSON, MOUNT: 10,155 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell for Henry L. Stimson, statesman, Governor General of the Philippines (1928), Secretary of State (1932), and Secretary of War under F. D. Roosevelt. The name was originally applied to the present Mount Logan, the present Mount Stimson then being called Mount James. The change was probably made by topographers of the region. Stimson was a member of Grinnell's 1891 party.

ST. MARY LAKES: In 1846, Hugh Monroe, trapper and a member of the Hudson Bay Company, visited and is believed, by some, to have named the St. Mary Lakes. On beholding their beauty, he is said to have been overcome with emotion. He erected a cross on the shores of the lower lake and named them after the Virgin Mary. He is quoted with a statement that a robe noire, a missionary priest, had visited the lakes at an earlier date, and rumors have it that this was none other than the great Belgian missionary, Pierre deSmet. However, the name, St. Mary, was first applied on maps to the river by the International Boundary Commission (about 1870), and it is more likely that the lakes received their name from that source.

The Piegan Indians called the lakes the "Entrance" or "Walled-in" Lakes, although they are spoken of today as Pah-toh-ahk-kee-oh O-mock-sick-i-mee, the Good Spirit-Woman Lake, referring to the English name. The Kutenais called them Old Woman Lakes, for the surface is constantly white with wind-driven waves.

Mr. James Doty, meteorologist for the exploring party of Governor Isaac I. Stevens of Washington Territory, camped on Lower St. Mary Lake in May, 1854. He called the upper lake by the descriptive name, Bow Lake, and the lower lake, Chief Mountain Lake. Maps of the International Boundary Survey applied this latter name to the present Waterton Lake, despite the fact that Doty specifically stated in his reports that his survey showed the lake and its environs to be wholly and more than ten miles within American territory. He gives its exact location. The outlet of St. Mary Lakes, St. Mary River, was called by the Blackfeet, Mo-ko-un, Belly River, which name is now applied to the stream further north.

SUNRIFT GORGE: The gorge through which Baring Creek flows above the Going-to-the-Sun Highway. The name was given by Superintendent Kraebel in 1926.

SWIFTCURRENT CREEK: Rising in Swiftcurrent Glacier, flowing northeast through Swiftcurrent and Sherburne Lakes into Lower St. Mary Lake. It is so called for its rapid fall with no quiet reaches or pools, presumably by the Indians before 1885, for George Bird Grinnell mentions it at that date.

SWIFTCURRENT LAKE: The old name, restored by Superintendent Eakin in 1928. The preceding name was Lake McDermott.

TRIPLE DIVIDE PEAK: 8,001 feet. The melting snows on this peak find their way into three oceans, Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific. The name was established by Francois Matthes who, as U.S.G.S. topographer, located and mapped it.

TWO MEDICINE LAKE: 5,165 feet. Traversed by Two Medicine Creek from which it received its name. Two Medicine is an abbreviation for Two Medicine Lodge. At one time, two Indian tribes built Medicine Lodges on either side of the river, hence this name was given to it.

WATERTON LAKE: 4,186 feet. Named by Captain T. W. Blakiston of the John Palliser Expedition, 1858, presumably after the naturalist, Charles Waterton (1782-1865).

WHITE CALF MOUNTAIN: 8,300 feet. Named by surveyors of the strip ceded to the United States Government by the Blackfeet in 1896. It was named for Chief White Calf, the last head chief of the Piegan Blackfeet.

WILBUR, MOUNT: 9,293 feet. Named by George Bird Grinnell for E. R. Wilbur of New York, a friend and associate on the Forest and Stream Editorial Staff. First climbed by Norman Clyde of California, coming to the park with the Sierra Club in 1923. Two girls, Eleanor Davis of the Colorado Mountain Club and Eleanor E. Bartlett of Southern California, climbed it a few days later after hearing about Clyde's ascent and getting particulars of his route from him. It has since been climbed many times.

WYNN MOUNTAIN: 8,300 feet. Named for Francis Barbour Wynn of Indianapolis, scientist, physician, mountain climber, and lover of Glacier National Park, who was killed on July 27, 1927, while attempting to climb Mount Siyeh.

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NOTE 1.

At the time that Glacier National Park was created, members of the United States Geological Survey were carefully mapping the region. Among the topographers was R. Evans, who with S. T. Penick mapped the sector south of 48°30. Mr. Evans was confronted with a host of features, only a few of which were already named.

The year of the mapping, 1910, will always be remembered as the most terrible of fire years. Great forest fires were sweeping throughout the whole northwest. Vast areas in the southern and western portions of the park were devastated. Vainly a company of negro cavalry helped fight the fire, and affected the naming of features. Thus, RAMPAGE Mountain was named from the fire rolling over it; SALVAGE Mountain, because it was partly saved; SOLDIER Mountain, from the cavalrymen who helped save it. JACKSTRAW Lake was named for the piles of burned trees accumulated on its shores; DEBRIS Creek, from the refuse left by the fire. The humis, or ground cover, burned to a sepulchral white and the lifeless masts of burned trees suggested the name for SKELETON Mountain. A firebrand blown through a pass set fire to forests on the east side of the Continental Divide and suggested its name, FIREBRAND Pass.

Mr. Evans obtained a list of Blackfeet chiefs from the Indian Reservation and augmented these with names of others of whom he had heard. So LITTLE DOG Mountain was named for that Blackfeet chieftain who sixty years previously had described to Governor Isaac A. Stevens the pass (Marias) which for many years was curiously to elude all efforts to locate it. THREESUNS, WOLFTAIL, EAGLEHEAD, BEARHEAD, RED CROW, and RUNNING RABBIT were likewise named. And as Mr. Evans mapped, he saw the summit of a peak showing over the shoulder of an adjacent mountain: hence, APPISTOKI, Peeping-over-Something. This latter was probably from "Appistotoki" who was God, the Maker, who is "over everything".

Many place names given by Mr. Evans are descriptive and self-explanatory: THREETOPS Mountain, DOUBLE Mountain, BATTLEMENT Mountain, ROTUNDA Cirque, COBALT Lake, PARADISE Creek and Park. BUTTERFUP Park, ASTER Park and ASTER Creek were named from an exuberance of these flowers. RIVERVIEW Mountain affords a splendid view of the Middle Fork of the Flathead. SNOWSLIP Mountain was the site of a great avalanche. AUTUMN Creek is aflame with colorful aspens late in the year. SCALPLOCK has a small tuft of trees on its summit which were spared from the fire. STATUARY Mountain is beset with many pinnacles. LOST Basin was so called since it is beautifully tucked away. BARRIER Buttes hide the Basin from the view of the adjacent country. Mr. Evans experienced great difficulty in climbing PERIL Peak. On account of the dense smoke from forest fires, in despair he had to climb Mount DESPAIR four or five times before completing a single day's work.

As long as his camp was situated near VIGIL Peak, a lone white mountain goat kept vigil nearby. Thirty odd goats were counted by Mr. Evans as they capered on CAPER Peak. GRIZZLY Mountain was the rendezvous of a silvertip. BLACKTAIL Hills were referred to as such by railroad men, because of an abundance of mule deer which are colloquially so-called.

Mr. Evans called LENA Lake after his wife. DAWSON Pass was named after Thomas Dawson, or Little Chief, an Indian Guide. He was son of Scotch Andrew Dawson, last factor of the American Fur Company at Fort Benton, and a Gros Ventre squaw. Lake ISABEL was named for Mrs. Dawson. Mount ROCKWELL was named for an old timer. So, too, was Mount SHIELDS. Mr. Shields was a polished idler from Virginia whose wife ran a store at Essex. OLE Creek had already been named after an old trapper.

TWO MEDICINE Pass, referred to in history and tradition of the region, was placed by Mr. Evans. From time immemorial an old trail from the Middle Fork up Park Creek passed over it.

NOTE 2.

CRACKER LAKE - Over forty years ago some very rich specimens of copper ore were found along leads or dikes in the eastern half of what is now Glacier Park. These discoveries were on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation which, at that time, extended west to the Continental Divide. Soon afterwards, before any development was undertaken, negotiations were made by the government to purchase the strip between the Divide and the present western boundary of the Reservation which had been surveyed as early as 1877. The Indians were paid $1,500,000 for this land. Meanwhile reports were being circulated that the area contained vast deposits of rich copper ore. These spread in Anaconda, a mining town in which I was living at the time. As a consequence, in the spring of 1897, I was backed by my brother S. F. Emmons, and Professor John Olson of Butte to prospect in the area, and to make all arrangements for a claim when the land was opened.

On arriving at Blackfoot, I was discouraged to learn that no prospectors were allowed on the strip which was being guarded by Indian police. However, I met Ed Matthews here whom I had known years before near Fort Shaw, and who now held the mail contract between Blackfoot and Browning. I sojourned at his place, and soon started driving the stage for him, so that I might get acquainted with the country while planning my next move. Thus it was that I met Hank Norris who was married to a squaw, the daughter of Chief Running Crane, and who lived between the two St. Mary Lakes. I arranged to take my horses and camp outfit out to his place, and spend a week or two fishing.

Norris talked freely of the mining possibilities of the country and its being thrown open to prospectors. He told of a lead that cropped out on Roes Creek, on Boulder Creek, and on Canyon Creek, and that, if I were interested we should make the trip to see it. The next morning we travelled to Roes Creek on horseback, and continued afoot to Boulder Creek, following the course of the lead. We found some good ore on the north slope above the latter, on the ridge separating it from Canyon Creek. Here we stopped for our lunch of crackers and cheese, of which we had brought enough for two meals. Intending to return that evening to eat what remained, we cached it on a flat rock, putting a second rock on top. We continued to the top of the Divide from which we could see that the lead crossed the canyon under the lake at its head and reappeared on the opposite side.

The trip had been strenuous, so we concluded to take an easier course back which would take us across Boulder Creek two miles below our crackers. Norris knew of a cache of provisions there which he had packed in for an old prospector named Edgar. We spent the night around a campfire at this cache, and returned to the horses on the next day.

From that time, we referred to the lead as the one where we left the crackers, and, later, as the Cracker Lead. As considerable work was done on it later, and as it passed under the lake in Canyon Creek, this latter, first called Blue Lake, later became known by its name of today, Cracker Lake.

L. C. Emmons, Kalispell, Montana.