Hello, FOIA Files readers. This week, I’m taking you back to Jan. 20th, President Donald Trump’s first day in office. That’s when he signed an executive order calling for North America’s tallest peak, Denali, to revert back to its previous name, Mount McKinley. Curious about the internal response from the the US Board on Geographic Names and the National Park Service, which operates the Denali National Park and Preserve, I fired off Freedom of Information Act requests to both. They responded by sending me more than 200 pages of emails, text messages and other documents. It turns out it will take years for the name change to be reflected everywhere, from signs to maps to park brochures! If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.
There have been many names for the 20,310-foot mountain located in central Alaska: Local native groups called it Denali, which means “the tall one” in their Athabaskan language; Russian explorers called it Bulshaia Gora, for “big one.” After the US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, it went by various names, including Mount McKinley after a gold explorer informally gave it that name in honor of the then-Republican president-elect William McKinley.
