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Last week’s column was a response to Puzzled in Flagstaff’s inquiry about the sources of the names of the San Francisco Peaks. But if we wish to be truly accurate, the peaks had been given other names long before Messrs, Humphreys, Agassiz et al. were even born.

First though, we call it “the Peaks,” but it’s really just one mountain. It’s a single extinct stratovolcano we can call San Francisco Mountain. It was an active volcano for well over a million years, venting lava flows and ejecta, until about 400,000 years ago, when it collapsed in a series of avalanches that dropped the summit nearly 3,000 feet to its current height of 12,633 feet.

So the native peoples who have lived by the Peaks far longer than the rest of us have it right: they call the mountain by a single name that reflects their understanding of its significance.

Havasupai people lived around and on San Francisco Mountain until the 20th century. They call it Wii Hagnbaja or Wii Hlaa’ (pronounced wee-han-BA ja or wee- HLA), meaning “Snowy Mountain” or “Moon Mountain” (the latter is its ceremonial name).