A Mountain Called Tahoma

Mount Rainier, the largest peak in Washington State, was named on May 8, 1792, by Captian George Vancouver. He called the peak "Mount Rainier" after his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.

"... The weather was serene and pleasant, and the country continued to exhibit, between us and the eastern snowy range, the same luxuriant appearance. At its northern extremity, mount Baker bore by compass N. 22 E.; the round snowy mountain, now forming its southern extremmy, and which, after my friend Rear Admiral Rainier, I distinguished by the name of MOUNT RAINIER, bore N. [S.] 42 E. ... "
[Captain George Vancouver, May 8, 1792]

For the past several years, the Puyallup Tribe has been leading the effort to rename Mount Rainier and give it back its original name — Mount Tacoma, or Mount Tahoma. In the Native language Twulshootseed, the mountain is called "Taquoma", most tribes near Yakima pronounce the word “Tahoma.” Various Native American names for Mount Rainier include “Tahoma”, “Takhoma”, and “Ta-co-bet”.

The people of the Puyallup tribe have known the mountain as Tahoma or Tacoma since time immemorial. The word has multiple meanings, all with bioregional relevance. By definition, Tahoma can mean mother of waters or that frozen water both recognizing the glaciated peak as the significant source that it is. The word is also understood to mean large snowy mountain, a trait it certainly exemplifies. Another etymological explanation derives from definitions of the name’s component parts in the Lashootseed language; Ta (larger/taller) Koma-Kulshan (name for Mount Baker). Farther afield names such as Talol and Ti’Swaq are also applied to the mountain, reflecting the relativity with which native place names must be approached.

In the article “A Case for Tahoma” writer Cooper Weisman states:

"The name Rainier strikes me as utterly meaningless in comparison with the indigenous appellations because the only story Rainier tells is one of colonization. Tahoma, on the other hand, carries with it the invaluable narratives of the first people of this land including one in which a great flood threatened the lives of people and other animals in the region who were only able to survive by scrambling to the top of the peak and remaining there together until the waters subsided. For mountaineers and others in this area, Tahoma continues to be a place of refuge from the many problems that flood our minds and our society today."  (https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/the-case-for-tahoma)

The land administered as Mount Rainier National Park has been since time immemorial the Ancestral homeland of the Cowlitz, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Yakama, and Coast Salish people. By following Elders’ instructions passed through generations, these Indigenous Peoples remain dedicated caretakers of this landscape. Their Traditional Knowledge and Management of this Sacred Land will endure in perpetuity, and we honor each nation’s traditions of landscape stewardship in our endeavors to care for, protect, and preserve the features and values of the mountain.

So... Yes, let's recognize the mountain by its proper name... Tahoma.