[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Sullivan):
  S. 573. A bill to designate a mountain in the State of Alaska as 
Denali; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a century-
long dispute. A hundred years plus, there has been a dispute about the 
Federal designation of North America's tallest mountain. It is a pretty 
majestic picture, but it does nothing to really convey the amazing 
grandeur of Denali. It is majestic. It is breathtaking. It is something 
that as Alaskans and as a lifelong Alaskan, there is not a day when I 
am able to see Denali and just say--just kind of breathe deep, because 
it is that extraordinary.
  And in my hometown of Anchorage, we are about 250 miles away from 
Denali, and on clear days, when you are on the road, just about a mile 
from my house, just a little bit of elevation, you can see the 
mountain.
  And we talk about it that way. We say: She is out. The mountain is 
out today. The big one is out today.
  It is an extraordinary gift from God, really. Snow-blanketed 
crevasses, the ridges are just gleaming in the sun. How this mountain 
connects earth to sky beyond, it is just extraordinary.
  And, again, this picture is beautiful--obviously, on a summer day. 
There is never a time when she is not covered in snow, but Denali can 
also be one of the coldest, most treacherous places on Earth.
  It has storms in the middle of winter. You expect that. But it has 
storms in the middle of July that obey no rules. It has its own rules. 
Denali creates its own weather. It literally creates its own weather.
  I had an opportunity to go up on Ruth Glacier on my birthday. My 
birthday happens to be the end of May. It was going to be an 
extraordinary big-ticket item--it was a big-ticket item, but we were 
chased off that mountain after about 40 minutes because the weather 
which, when we had arrived at the mountain, was pretty great, and in 40 
minutes, she was shutting down, and we were either going to be spending 
the night there, which was not prime condition to do, or we were 
getting off in order to get out safely. You respect her.
  But it is a place where you respect the nature around you because 
what can be that perfect day can descend with wind and snow into chaos. 
It falls on you so quickly, you can't see your own footprints in the 
snow.
  The lives that have been lost and the legends of the stories told 
remain, but no matter what happens with the weather, as transitory as 
all that is, Denali stands resilient and true.
  For centuries, the Koyukon Athabascans have lived, they have hunted, 
they have foraged, they have loved, they have died, they have survived 
in the shadow of this great mountain.
  They have been on the waterways, in the valleys, on the hills, and in 
the ridges. Alaska Natives have persevered in one of the most 
challenging climates, and they have done so in harmony with the food 
supply and the surroundings around them.
  Denali is Koyukon for ``the Great One,'' for ``the Great One.'' This 
is how Native people have always known it, and as the great witness of 
untold stories from their ancestors.
  The very first-ever map to label the mountain read ``Tenada,'' and 
this is a transcription of Denali--again, the Great One.
  The first mountaineers to summit the peak called it Denali. It is 
interesting to note that the first individual to actually summit was 
not the mountaineers who had paid for the climb, but it was the Alaskan 
Native guide who took them safely and successfully to the top. But it 
is the same Native people, those same mountaineers that were baffled 
that anyone would dare to modify the original Native name.
  And yet, in 1917, the mountain was not named Denali. And there is a 
fair amount of legend that comes with that as well, that there was a 
trapper who came out of the woods--this was during the early days of 
the President McKinley administration--and he said: Out of respect, 
let's honor the new President.
  But much like Native lands, health, and culture, you just don't come 
in and say we are going to disregard, we are going to disrespect the 
rightful name, the name that had been in place for generations, for 
thousands of years.
  And so since that time in 1917, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names 
has received over 20,000 letters and signatures, most of them--the vast 
majority of them calling for the name Denali to be restored.
  This massive mountain commands a reverent name, a steadfast name--not 
the name of an individual, a person who comes and goes, who may have 
had an impact for a brief moment in time.
  But this is ageless, timeless. The Great One, 20,310 feet tall, the 
tallest mountain in North America. So when you have something that is 
that significant, that is that connected as part of the land in ways 
that are beyond just a mere name--but, again, a reverence with which 
you speak of this piece of land, this geography.
  When Alaskans leave our home State and boast to outsiders, whether 
spinning a globe or just talking about it, we say: That is Denali. That 
is the Great One. She is out today.
  So that is why today I have introduced legislation that would 
officially restore the federally recognized name of this quintessential 
mountain as Denali.
  Now, this is not the first time I have done this. This is actually 
the fourth Congress that I have introduced this legislation. Maybe I am 
persistent; I think Alaskans are just very resilient, and we will 
continue to be. We will continue to be because this magnificent 
mountain is something that each of us holds in our hearts, that we hold 
dear. For these last 100 years or so, we have continued to call our 
great mountain Denali, regardless, and will continue to do that 100 
years going forward. Denali existed before any person, and it will 
remain long after we are dust.
  So I share this with my colleagues today, letting you know that we 
put this legislation out there. My introduction follows on the actions 
of the Alaska State Legislature--both the house and the senate have 
moved a resolution urging us in Congress to move forward with this and 
officially restore the federally recognized name, and so I am pleased 
to be able to begin that process today.
                                 ______