YELLOWSTONE National Park is famously known as the first national park in the United States.
In June 2022, the park announced that it was changing the name of one of its mountain peaks.
2
Why did Yellowstone National Park rename Mount Doane?
Mount Doane was known as the mountain peak in the Absaroka Range of Yellowstone National Park.
Now, the peak is known as First Peoples Mountain to honor Indigenous people.
The mountain was previously named after Gustavus Doane, a U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, inventor, and Civil War soldier who played a prominent role in the exploration of Yellowstone.
Despite his decorated history, he led an attack on local tribes, which is now known as the Marias Massacre, that took the lives of at least 173 American Indians, according to the National Park Service.
Doane reportedly took pride in the attack and often bragged about it until his death in 1892.
“It is a victory, yes. Is history being rewritten and retold truthfully? I hope so,” William Snell, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, told NPR.
Snell’s group helped advise federal officials on the name change, which was later approved in a 15-0 vote by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN).
Most read in US News
The National Park Service notes that the park may “consider changes to other derogatory or inappropriate names in the future.”
How many mountains are in Yellowstone?
Yellowstone spreads across 3,500 square miles of wilderness and includes several mountains.
To date, the park has over 40 peaks and at least 70 named mountains over 8,000 feet, according to Yellowstone’s website.
The oldest mountains can be found on the west side in the Gallatin Range, which is a result of the Sevier Orogeny.
“It started west of Yellowstone proper and was produced by thin skin tectonics or faulting,” Yellowstone’s park geologist Jefferson Hungerford explained.
“Basically, at a break in the Earth’s crust, older layers of sedimentary rocks were pushed above younger rocks, stacking them upon one another.”
Some of the peaks can be hiked in as little as one hour, while others can take six to eight hours to climb.
2
Where is Yellowstone?
Yellowstone National Park is located mostly in Wyoming.
However, some of it spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho.
The park is a popular tourist attraction for those looking to get away from city life.
Yellowstone is just one of 423 national parks that are in the United States.
