In 2015, the Obama Administration announced the decision to restore the tallest mountain in North America’s name from Mount McKinley to Denali, honoring the name Alaskan native tribes attributed to the mountain for centuries. This decision revitalized debate around whether Mount Rainier’s name should be restored to its Native name as well.

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  The Pacific Northwest icon of a mountain, what had been named “Mount Rainier,” by European settlers in the 19th century is now in the midst of a nominal battle, between those who wish to maintain it’s Eurocentric name and those who advocate for restoring it to it’s Native name. The mountain was given its Anglican name by George Vancouver, a 18th century British explorer who donned the name after his friend, Peter Rainier (Driscoll) , who never in his lifetime visited the Northwest.

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  For hundreds of years, the Puyallup Tribe has called the mountain “təqʷuʔməʔ” in their native language Twulshootseed which when anglicized is roughly pronounced Tacoma or Tahoma. The name means “big mountain”, ”snowy peak”, and “place where the waters begin.” The six Native tribes inhabiting the region: the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Muckleshoot, Yakama, and Cowlitz, have used the Mountain for centuries, often journeying there in the summer and early fall to hunt and gather berries. (2015 Ohanapecosh Archaeology Project) Archeologists have discovered rock shelters on the mountain containing charred goat, deer, and other animals providing evidence that Native people have lived on and around the Mountain for at least four thousand years, likely up to eight thousand years ago, as that is when the region is thought to have develop productive plant and animal populations. (2015 Ohanapecosh Archaeology Project) For this reason, many local tribes are now fighting to restore the Mountain to its original name, thus symbolically returning it to its native culture.

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  The cultural issue of the mountain's name has often been overshadowed by capitalist agendas from white, Northwest corporations. For example, Rainier Beer has interest in keeping the name as Rainier is the company’s namesake. Furthermore, the City of Tacoma is in favor of the name change to draw tourism to the city and win notoriety over its rival city, Seattle. (Driscoll) In 2014, the government had little qualm over a name change to the mountain when the Washington State Senate voted to change Mount Rainier’s name to Mount Seattle Seahawks following the Seahawks 2014 Super Bowl win. These money-minded agendas detract from the conversations we should be having around the generational trauma the arrival of White settlers caused to Native people by stripping them of their mountain and claim to their homeland. Thus, it is in the interest of our region to relinquish our hold on təqʷuʔməʔ and return her to her rightful people.

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