As you’ve heard, President Obama has gazed upon a mountain high, lifted his chin, and renamed it. Out: McKinley. In: Denali. If you’re not knicker-twisted about this, let me help.
Denali, according to Wikipedia, means “the high one” or “the great one.” So, Big Mountain. When the Russians ran the joint, they gave it the poetic name of Bolshaya Gora, or Skull of the Czar. Just kidding; it means “Big Mountain.” For a while it was called Densmore’s Mountain, a nod to Frank Densmore, the first European to reach its base. He was a prospector; history does not record whether he was “grizzled” and said “by cracky” while spitting and grinning, as is required of the prospector’s cliché. Probably just as well the name didn’t stick; as his heirs would no doubt learn, the property taxes on that thing would be astronomical.
Comments