Swastika Mountain renamed Mount Halo in tribute to historic tribal leader after push for change by Oregon residents
- A mountain in Oregon gets a new name after its old name went unnoticed
- Swastika Mountain was rarely spoken of until hikers were rescued from the area
- An 81-year-old Oregonian saw the old name and suggested something new
Swastika Mountain in Oregon is renamed Mount Halo after a vote by the US Board on Geographic Names.
It is located in a remote part of the Umpqua National Forest outside of Eugene, Oregon, and will be given a new name after the old one was spotted in the local newspaper by an 81-year-old Oregonian.
Until recently, the mountain was relatively unknown and its name rarely used – the small peak was named after a local cattle ranch in the early 1900s, long before the term became associated with the Nazi Party.
The mountain’s new name, Mount Halo, is a tribute to Chief Halito of the Yoncalla Kalapuya Tribe.
Swastika Mountain in Oregon will be renamed Mount Halo after a vote by the US Board on Geographic Names
The mountain is located in a remote part of the Umpqua National Forest outside of Eugene, Oregon
Chief Halo (pictured) made a stand by refusing to be moved to the Grand Ronde reserve as local tribes were removed from their land
The change was approved 19 to 3 in December and took effect late last month, the Registry Keeper.
An earlier proposal suggested calling it Umpqua Mountain, but the petitioner withdrew it in support of adopting the name Mount Halo, according to material from the newspaper’s state board reviews.
In the 1850s, Chief Halo took a stand by refusing to be moved to the Grand Ronde Reservation when local tribes were removed from their lands in the Umpqua Valley. His tribal village was 20 miles west of the mountain.
The relatively unknown mountain came on the public radar in January 2022, when two teenagers were reported missing after hiking near the mountain.
Their rescue led to a press release of the US Coast Guard, who named the mountain ‘Swastika Mountain’.
Joyce McClain, 81, of Oregon, read about the rescue mission and couldn’t believe that a mountain in 2022 still has such a name. She responded by starting a petition to have the name changed.
“People need to step up and take action when they see something that isn’t right or needs to be changed, because one person can make a difference, and this shows how that’s so true,” McClain said. NPR at the time.
The relatively unknown mountain came on the public radar in January 2022 when two teenagers were reported missing after hiking near the mountain
The mountain was not well known before the rescue and its name went unnoticed for over 100 years
McClain wrote to the Oregon Geographic Names Board and filed an application to propose a name change. Kerry Tymchuk, executive secretary at the historical society, told NPR that McClain was the first person he knew to submit a request for the mountain.
“It’s not a very well-known mountain, and honestly I didn’t know there was one,” Tymchuk told NPR.
“It’s in a state forest, not accessible to many people like Mount Hood or Mount St. Helen. It is not very well known in the entire state; the vast majority of people probably didn’t even know it was there,” he added.
The word ‘swastika’ comes from the South Asian language Sanskrit and means ‘happiness’ or ‘well-being’. A variation of the symbol appropriated by the Nazis is a historical Hindu symbol.
The mountain, as well as the nearby and now-extinct town of Swastika, was named after a cattle ranch in the early 1900s before Hitler came to power, according to Tymchuk.