Rebranding Mount Doane to First Peoples Mountain in Yellowstone
Mount Doane, a prominent mountain in Yellowstone National Park, was named in honor of Lt. Gustavus Doane, an early explorer of the park. However, his mistreatment of Native people has led the park to collaborate with Native communities to rename the peak First Peoples Mountain.
Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane ventured through Yellowstone National Park in the early 1870s on a commission by the United States government to explore the western territory. In 1871, the Hayden Geological Survey named a prominent mountain after the military leader, effectively preserving his legacy. Mount Doane stood as a monument to the lieutenant’s efforts and exploration in the West. But this narrative by the Geological Survey left much untold.
Doane participated in several conflicts with Native people including the Sioux War, the Nez Perce War, and the Apache Campaign in the years leading up to his exploration of Yellowstone. In 1870, he led an attack against the Piikani/Piegan Blackfeet, now known as the Marias Massacre. On January 23, 1870, the United States Army attacked Chief Heavy Runner’s Piegan village at dawn, killing some 173 people, including elderly and children. The camp had been ravaged by smallpox, leaving them defenseless. Such an atrocity went unacknowledged while Mount Doane stood as a legacy to one of the men who perpetrated it.
To better represent Indigenous peoples and their histories, Yellowstone National Park sought to change the name of Mount Doane and other controversially named sites. The park reached out to organizations like the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council and the Wyoming Board of Geographic Names. In collaboration with and recommendations by these groups, the National Park Service changed the peak’s name to First Peoples Mountain on June 9, 2022. With a vote of 15-0 in support of the change by the US Board on Geographic Names, the mountain became a monument to the memory of the people killed in the Marias Massacre. This change marks an important shift in the ways Indigenous peoples are represented in the historical narrative and historical memory.
Images
