News flash: US Geographic Board approves CJ place names

[Dave Robertson]

Washington state placenames approved included:

(sessions dated March 6 and April 3, 1918; from Washington Historical
Quarterly X:1, January 1919)

* Chickamin Ridge, Kittitas County

* Melakwa Pass & Lake (not Mel-a-kwa), King County

* Muckamuck Mountain (not Mukamuk), Okanogan County 

* Olallie Creek (Not O-la-lee nor Olalee), King County

* White Chuck Glacier, Snohomish County

(sessions of July 1, 1916 to July 1, 1918; WHQ X:3, July 1919)
* Chikamin [sic] Peak, Kittitas County

* Chinook Pass, Pierce/Yakima Counties

* Hyak Creek, Kittitas County

* Kaleetan (not Ka-lee-tan) Peak, King County

* Keekwuler [sic] (not Keek-wu-lee) Falls, King County

These are interesting to look at for a few reasons.  First, they're
landmarks that evidently lacked commonly recognized names until the 1910s,
so their Chinook Jargon names are probably not reflections of colloquial usage.

Second, apparently The Mountaineers [club], of Seattle, was responsible for
suggesting many of the names of Washington State peaks to the USGB (WHQ
X:1:188).  I believe they're the hiking group whose motto was in CJ; will
have to check our list archives for confirmation.  I may've also heard along
the way that they had a connection with Edmond Meany, scholar of Washington
place names, who was acquainted with CJ.

Third, the officially approved spellings of these CJ place names mostly
reflect the de facto standard spellings used in popular CJ guidebooks of the
age.  This and the fact that some CJ words that are rarely, if ever, found
in recorded CJ speech (like Melakwa "mosquito") suggests a literary and not
a "folk" origin for them.  

--Dave R

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