President Trump issued an order on his first day to change the name of North America’s tallest mountain back to Mount McKinley. So we asked you in a post on our website: which do you prefer? Denali or McKinley.
We got 600 responses in two days – more than we expected. The overwhelming favorite: Denali. About 95% of the respondents to our question were Denali fans. They said it’d be a slap in the face to Alaska Native people to remove an indigenous name and replace it with the name of a president who, as many put it, never set foot in Alaska.
Megan McIlmail, a graduate student in social work, cited both of those reasons. And, in an interview from her home in Wasilla, she said Denali is the more Alaskan name, to non-Natives as well.
“There are dozens and dozens of local businesses that have Denali in their name,” she said. You can buy Denali Dreams Soap and order Denali sauce for your pizza, McIlmail noted. “It feels like Alaskans really embraced the name Denali.”
That’s not just McIlmail’s impression. Businesses with the name “Denali” outnumber those named for McKinley 6 to 1 in the state’s business license database.
“When I was a young lad I wondered who McKinley was and what did he do for Alaska to get his name on our mountain,” 73-year-old Randy Weisser of Homer wrote us. “Still have no answer for that.”
Weisser, a retired Bible school teacher and missionary who grew up in Kodiak, said it took him a while to adjust to the name Denali. If a president can so easily change the name, Weisser said he’ll just be patient and wait for it to be changed back.
Among those who favor the name McKinley, many told us they grew up with that name and they just think of it as McKinley. A few said it’s more patriotic to have a national name. John Rigler responded to our question from his home in Iowa. He thinks Mount McKinley is a better name to promote tourism. From Rigler’s perspective, as a bank manager in Des Moines, he thinks more Americans recognize the mountain as McKinley.
“And ‘Denali,’ to a lot of people, sounds like an automobile, a Chevrolet SUV,” he said.
(For the record, Denali the mountain predates the GMC trimline called Denali, which dates to 1999.)
Dave Stanley has childhood memories of seeing the mountain as a regal monolith, draped in pink pastels. He grew up in Fairbanks in the ‘50s and ‘60s, after his dad took a job at the Alaska Geophysical Institute.
“I grew up kind of as a campus rat, on the hill above Fairbanks,” Stanley said. “We had a great view of the Alaska Range. And of course, the star of that show was McKinley, as I knew it. And I still know it — when I first think of it, I think ‘McKinley.’”
That’s just out of habit for him, because Stanley, a retired geologist and attorney, is all in for Denali now. Yet a dozen years ago he wrote a testy letter to the editor defending those who prefer McKinley against accusations of racism. He said he’s mellowed. And, he said, the basis for the McKinley name was always thin.
A few Mount McKinley fans who responded to our question were under the impression McKinley was responsible for buying Alaska from Russia. Not so. The purchase was 30 years before McKinley won the White House.
It was a prospector who first applied the politician’s name to the peak, after learning that William McKinley won his party’s nomination for president.
“He liked McKinley, from what I read years ago, because McKinley wanted the gold standard, and that's what this prospector wanted,” said Stanley.
What matters now, he said, is that most Alaskans want it called Denali, and he thinks it’s a shame the president has renewed the controversy.
“Bickering and politics will always be beneath this majestic mountain,” he said.
A poll by Alaska Survey Research in mid-January found a political correlation with name preference. Overall, the poll found, Alaskans prefer Denali 2-to1. But Democrats prefer Denali by an enormous margin and Republicans were evenly split.
Here are some of the other responses we received, lightly edited for punctuation and spelling:
The mountain is Denali. McKinley has nothing to do with us. Denali also sounds nicer, elegant even. There’s nothing chic about “McKinley.” Ugh. — Ruth, Chugiak
It should be called Denali. It was called Denali by the Koyukon Athabaskans long before the Russians came to Alaska and long before Alaska was a state. To change its name to a person who never stepped foot in Alaska is to further erase Koyukon Athabaskans and disconnect all Alaskans further from the land they live on and with. — Claire, Girdwood
The name Denali actually is descriptive, has a beautiful sound, has a long track record, and has fewer letters in the name, so it's more frugal in making signage. Also it would save taxpayer money and staff time to leave it as is. — Maxine, Wasilla
Denali. Because it's Alaskan. — Bruce, Fairbanks
Denali. I am a huge supporter of President Trump and appreciate the swift and thoughtful actions he has taken so far as president but this one is a miss. Most Alaskans I have talked to prefer Denali and it feels more natural. We should honor President McKinley but we can name a road or something else after him. Denali just makes more sense. — Megan, Eagle River
This is plain BS, you know it as much as I do. You can lay there and take it but I'm not. There is absolutely no reason on God's green earth for this behavior. And for those who say we need to compromise I say SHUT THE F—- UP! His job is to represent the people, not dictate to us. They have a name for that. — Dano, Seward
Mt McKinley. Obama changed the name to gain support from Alaska Natives to further his career and agenda. President Trump has changed it back to what it was and should remain. — Todd, Anchor Point
Denali, because that heritage is in Alaska’s heart and soul. — Steve, Anchorage
Mt. McKinley. My family has been here since 1964. We have always called it Mt. McKinley and have never stopped — Anthony, Palmer
Even though I agree with Trump most of the time, this I do not. The Native people of this land were here first and named it Denali which means great one. It should be kept Denali to observe the Native heritage. Respect the Native people of this land, they knew it was there before McKinley. — Jalanda, Fairbanks
I am 25 and I have never heard anyone call it Mt. Mckinley. It’s always been Denali. — R., Palmer
Le nom donné aux autochtones à cette majestueuse montagne. — Laurence, France
McKinley. We are Americans first, ethnic groups next. — Jenine, Mat-Su
