HELENA, Mont. — A decade-long project to remove the word “squaw” from the names of 76 streams, buttes and mountains across Montana has been completed.
Most of the name changes are official, although a few are winding their way through the process.
More than 150 people gathered Thursday in the Montana Capitol rotunda for the “Old Places, New Names” ceremony.
“We celebrate 76 old places and 76 new names,” Jennifer Perez Cole, the governor’s Indian affairs coordinator, said at Thursday’s observance. “This derogatory word ‘squaw’ was a word used by white men to describe Indian women. We sent a message in ’99 that it was unacceptable.”
An example of the changes: Stands Alone Woman Peak, a rock formation in Glacier National Park, has supplanted Old Squaw.
Although Colorado changed the name of the squawfish to the pikefish several years ago, the state has several squaw place names, including Squaw Pass in Clear Creek County. It was called Soda Hill Pass until 1916.
