National Park Service Renames Yellowstone’s Mount Doane

The National Park Service has decided to rename Mount Doane to First Peoples Mountain, saying the former name of the 10,000-foot peak in Wyoming was offensive, according to a story from Fox News.

The name has been around for more than 100 years in honor of Gustavus Doane, who led an 1870 exploration of what is now Yellowstone National Park.

But the Park Service said the that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which voted unanimously 15-0 to change the name, affirmed its decision that the name was offensive due to Doane’s participation in attacks on American Indian settlers.

Specifically, the Park Service said Doane led the 1870 assault on a band of Piegan Blackfeet to retaliate for the alleged murder of a White fur trader.

“During what is now known as the Marias Massacre, at least 173 American Indians were killed, including many women, elderly Tribal members and children suffering from smallpox. Doane wrote fondly about this attack and bragged about it for the rest of his life,” the NPS wrote in a report.

Doane was 52 when died on May 5, 1892.

Fox reported that the Park Service contacted all 27 tribes associated with Yellowstone National Park and received “no oppositions or concerns regarding the change.”

As has been a trend nationally, the park said it will consider changing the name of any other sites it seems to have “derogatory or inappropriate names in the future.”