Sunday’s edition of The Seattle Times had a story from the Anchorage Daily News on the long time argument over what to call the highest peak in the United States. Deenalee from the Koyukon language? Denaze from Upper Kuskokwim, Denadhe from Tanana, Dghelay Ka’a in Upper Inlet Dena’ina, Dghili Ka’a in Lower Inlet Dena’ina and Dghelaay Ce’e in Ahtna.

Or Denali from the Koyukon name.

Or McKinley from a gold prospector named William Dickey in 1897 and now from another gold digger in 2025.

The indigenous people in Alaska had many names for the mountain, mostly having to do with its size — 20,310 feet tall. Later visitors were not any more original as Russians called it “Bulshaia Gora,” which means “big one.”

Then came Dickey, coming out of an Alaskan wilderness and hearing about William McKinley being nominated as the Republican presidential candidate for the 1896 election (we’d have been better off with William Jennings Bryan, the Democrat nominee).

And then the argument started: McKinley or Denali? Alaskans liked Denali; people in Ohio, home to the 25th president, liked McKinley.

We could make everyone happy if Alaskans kept the name they liked, and Ohioans named the highest point in their state Mount McKinley.

For a photo of the new Mount McKinley, press here.

Watch your step down to 1,549.09 feet. It’s a big one.