[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 15 (Thursday, January 29, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Sullivan):
  S. 319. A bill to designate a mountain in the State of Alaska as 
Mount Denali; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce legislation 
which has been proposed in the past by the Alaska Congressional 
Delegation to officially restore the traditional name of the nation's 
highest peak, currently Mount McKinley, to its traditional Interior 
Alaska Athabascan name, Denali.' I am joined in sponsoring this bill by 
my colleague from Alaska, Senator Dan Sullivan.
  Since passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 
in 1980 the Alaska Delegation has been trying to change the name of the 
tallest mountain in North America back to its Alaska name. In 1980 
Congress did change the name of the national park and preserve where 
the mountain is located to Denali National Park and Preserve, from its 
earlier name of Mt. McKinley National Park. But unfortunately the name 
of the peak itself continues to refer to a President who never set foot 
in Alaska.
  While I have great respect for President William McKinley and great 
respect for the wonderful State of Ohio where he was born, the peak at 
20,230 feet has always been called by Alaska's first Athabascan 
residents as Denali, meaning ``the high one.'' It is simply fitting in 
this day and age of greater awareness of Native history that the 
mountain return to a name that honors its Native ancestry.
  Already there are a number of towns and institutions named in honor 
of the 25th President. He has a monument for him at his birthplace in 
Niles, OH, and another on McKinley Monument Drive where the McKinley 
National Monument is located, not far from the Pro Football Hall of 
Fame in Canton, OH. There is McKinley Heights in Ohio. There are more 
than 20 schools in Ohio named for him. There is a county in New Mexico 
named after him. There are literally hundreds of streets, libraries and 
other institutions and businesses named for him nationwide. There is no 
danger than Americans will not remember and honor the assassinated 
President.
  But no official in the territory of Alaska actually named the 
nation's tallest mountain after the former President. That was done by 
a prospector William Dickey, who took it upon himself to name the peak 
in 1896. The Alaska State Place Names Board in 1975 took official state 
action to rename the peak, restoring its traditional name of Denali. I 
clearly believe that there is every reason for this Congress to follow 
Alaskans' desires and the desires of Native Americans and restore the 
name to the English translation of what it has been called for 
millennia, on Federal maps and documents.
  I hope that this Congress will finally agree to this name change.
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