Changing the west, one name at a time

From The Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

It took a few years, but Squaw Creek finally has a new name.

The stream in the Gallatin Range south of Bozeman now bears the official moniker of Storm Castle Creek, according to Jackie Riley, cartographer for the Gallatin National Forest.

Two other features on the Gallatin, Squaw Peak and Squaw Gulch, both in the Absaroka Range, have also been renamed.

“Squaw Peak is now Morningstar Peak,” Riley said Monday. The gulch is now Travois Gulch.

A fourth feature, Squaw Pass in the Absarokas, hasn’t been renamed yet because a committee in Washington, D.C., couldn’t decide what to call it.

The new names are part of a pattern taking place around the country. The word “squaw” is considered by many Native Americans to be an insulting epithet for a woman’s private parts.