September 9, 2022 |
Squaw Canyon here in Carbon County has a new name today. Located in the checkerboard west of Miller Hill and east of the 20 Mile Road along Separation Creek, the rugged mountain valley at 7,290 feet of elevation now carries the official federal name of Continental Divide Canyon.
It’s one of 41 places in Wyoming that have new names because the Department of Interior deemed their historical monikers offensive.
The term “squaw” is widely viewed as a demeaning, sexist slur. Its origin can is traced to a fragment of longer word used by Algonquin tribes. In November, 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo tribal member, began removing the term from use on the federal level, and started a process to replace the names of geographic features that contain the term and others considered offensive.
The new names announced yesterday are effective immediately, according to a statement from Interior.
Among the changes, Squaw Creek in Albany County in the Medicine Bow National Forest west of Jelm Mountain was named Lake Mountain Creek.
Pictured above: Screenshot of the U.S. Geological Survey map of renamed locations.
