The view from the fire lookout tower atop what will no longer be known as Harney Peak.

A little over a year ago, a state commission on place names in South Dakota recommendation that the highest peak in the state — Harney Peak in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota — be renamed Hinhan Kaga, the original Lakota name for the mountain. The name means Making of Owls and comes from rock formations that look like owls.

But that recommendation was set aside by the state when it was supposedly determined that there was no public consensus on whether to rename the mountain. In South Dakota there is a strong current of opinion that names (as well as things in general) should be left as they are and that changing them is just political correctness.

But today the US Board on Geographic Names had the last word on the matter and decided to change the name to Black Elk Peak after the legendary Lakota visionary and spiritual leader.

The mountain had been named after Gen. William S. Harney, even though there is little evidence he ever set foot on it. Harney has been described in various papers as foul-mouthed violent man who was once indicted (but later acquitted) for the brutal murder of an enslaved child.

But it was on Sept. 2, 1855, that Harney earned infamy at Blue Water Creek in Nebraska when he hunted down a gathering of Sicangu and instructed his troops to not spare a single one of the “damned red sons of bitches.”

Eighty-six people, 40 of whom were women and children, were slaughtered.

Black Elk, who lived from 1863 to 1950, prayed often on the mountain, which was central to a vision he had while he was extremely ill and near death as a child. As he described it:

Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all , and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

Still, it has been pointed out that there is little tradition among the Lakota for naming things after individuals. The massive Crazy Horse Memorial mountain carving south of what used to be Harney Peak and Mount Rushmore was named partly by the non-Native sculptor who started the project.

Hence, the suggestion that Harney Peak should become Hinhan Kaga instead of being named after Black Elk.

But Black Elk Peak is probably a good compromise. The mountain already lies within the Black Elk Wilderness Area.

Nonetheless, not everyone in South Dakota is going to approve, as you can tell from the comments with the Rapid City Journal story linked above:

There will never be a day that I will ever call it anything but Harney Peak, nor will I ever acknowledge it as anything but Harney Peak. Ask me where Black Elk Peak is and I will have no idea. ….. B as in B and S as in S!! Everyone who know, including me, strongly objects to the change!!! People of SD!! Stand up and take your government back!!!! Contact your elected Federal representatives! Contact the Governor! Contact our state representatives!! Complain and tell them your thoughts on one man changing history and our heritage!!! Stand up or keep letting a vocal few run rough shod over us!! ….. not good, this should have been voted on by the citizens of south dakota!

The GOP governor of South Dakota, Dennis Daugaard, was also not pleased.

In a written statement issued shortly after the decision, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the change will cause "unnecessary expense and confusion." “I am surprised by this decision, as I have heard very little support in South Dakota for renaming Harney Peak," he wrote. "I suspect very few people know the history of either Harney or Black Elk."

Note: Much of the history I mention comes from the written comments that were submitted to the state board that considered the name change and are linked above. Feel free to flesh them out in the comments.