Colorado doesn’t lack for storied mountain summits, so perhaps it’s not surprising that some might think it’s of little consequence to rename a high peak.
But the truth is that it is a big deal. A mountain’s name is a testament to history, and ought to be regarded as such, even if not always revered.
We hope the federal government will pass on a petition to rename Kit Carson Mountain, the 14,165-foot massif in the Sangre de Cristo range.
Kit Carson, the mountain, towers over the town of Crestone, where several residents oppose the name. Their claim, understandably, is that Christopher “Kit” Carson, the man, participated in harsh treatment of Navajo Indians in 1863 and 1864.
Newcomers who were drawn to the area by a developer’s offering of free land to religious groups have teamed with some longtime residents to offer up the name Mount Crestone to the Board of Geographic Names in Washington, D.C., as a more suitable moniker, according to Colorado Springs Gazette reporter R. Scott Rappold.
Their argument is that Kit Carson should not be rewarded with such an impressive namesake. Carson, acting under orders of the Union government during the Civil War, forced thousands of Navajo in New Mexico to surrender to his forces by destroying villages and cutting off their food supplies in the harsh months of winter. The Indians were forced to move 300 miles away to a reservation. Hundreds died.
Carson’s actions were considered heroic in his day. In 1873, a few years after his death, a surveyor in the San Luis Valley named the mountain in question after him.
Kit Carson Mountain stands in company with two other 14,000-foot summits already bearing the “Crestone” appellation: Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. But residents of Crestone say many have always referred to the mountain as Crestone; therefore, adding a “Mount Crestone” to the skyline is only proper.
However, the Colorado Mountain Club and the Forest Service oppose a name change to avoid confusion.
The mountain belongs to all, not just Crestone residents. And because contemporary views of historic figures evolve, it strikes us as a difficult precedent to rename places and features because their namesakes might grow out of favor.
History, like a high mountain peak, must be grappled with on its own terms.
