By ADAM DUVERNAY/Eugene Register-Guard
EUGENE — Several pieces of Oregon’s landscape may soon leave behind their now-offensive names, including a mountain in Lane County called by a word more commonly associated with the Nazi Party than its ancient religious meaning.
The Oregon Geographic Names Board, which is responsible for reviewing name change proposals brought by residents and suggesting if they should be adopted, met in Eugene on Aug. 20. They voted to send several name change proposals to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for approval, and also discussed renaming Swastika Mountain in Lane County.
“Today, we’re dealing with names that have bubbled up over this past year. It’s done organically. We don’t make these proposals; they come from citizens,” said Kerry Tymchuk, executive secretary for the Oregon Geographic Names Board and executive director of the Oregon Historical Society.
If approved by the federal board, Negro Knob in Grant County would become Columbus Sewell Knob, and Negro Ridge and Negro Creek in Douglas County would become Malvin Brown Ridge and Jack Carson Creek.
The state board will vote in December on changing the name of another Negro Creek in Douglas County to Triple Nickles Creek.
“We have a public that wants to see name changes on offensive names,” the state board’s president, Bruce Fisher, said Saturday.
The board Aug. 20 also approved naming two creeks which don’t have names. One is in Lane County, and if approved by the federal board, would become Kimberly Creek. The other is in Polk County and would become Lewetag Creek.
The board delayed recommending changing the name of a mountain in Wasco County, Chinaman Hat, to Bath Hat after it was determined there is public interest in finding an alternative new name, Tymchuk said.
Board members also heard a proposal to change the name of Swastika Mountain in the Umpqua National Forest to Mount Halo, a name honoring a Yoncalla Kalapuya chief. The board will vote on the proposal at a meeting in December. The rules around changing geographic names require a 60-day waiting period before a recommendation is approved.
The name of Swastika Mountain, located about 35 miles southeast of Eugene, predates the ancient religious symbol’s 1920 cooption by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, commonly called the Nazi Party. The mountain takes its name from the defunct town of Swastika.
The proposed change to Mount Halo would commemorate the life of Chief Halito, as called Chief Halo, who refused to be relocated to the Grand Ronde Reservation and stayed on the Applegate family donation land claim in the Umpqua Valley after the local tribes were removed, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, an Oregon Historical Society project.
An earlier proposal to change the name of Swastika Mountain suggested calling it Umpqua Mountain, but the petitioner withdrew it and now supports adopting the name Mount Halo, according to meeting materials from the state board.
— This story originally appeared in the Aug. 22 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard
Maybe it’s time to take back the swastika and restore the true meaning. We can’t get rid all names that offend someone when there is valid name. It could be a teaching moment.