First Peoples Mountain (formerly Mount Doane) el. is a mountain peak in the

Absaroka Range The Absaroka Range ( or ) is a sub- range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is border ...

. The peak was formerly named for Lieutenant

Gustavus Cheyney Doane Gustavus Cheyney Doane (May 29, 1840 – May 5, 1892) was a U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, inventor and Civil War soldier who played a prominent role in the exploration of Yellowstone as a member of the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expeditio ...

, a U.S. Army cavalry officer who escorted the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition into Yellowstone in 1870. During that expedition, Doane and

Nathaniel P. Langford Nathaniel Pitt Langford (August 9, 1832 – October 18, 1911) was an American explorer, businessman, bureaucrat, vigilante and historian from Saint Paul, Minnesota who played an important role in the early years of the Montana gold fields, ter ...

ascended several peaks east of

Yellowstone Lake Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is above sea level and covers with of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is , its greatest depth is at least . Yellowstone Lake is the largest fre ...

. The name was changed to First Peoples Mountain in 2022.

Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition

Henry D. Washburn, the leader of the expedition named a peak for Doane, but that peak's name was later changed to Mount Schurz. Mount Doane was officially named by the

Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that later became Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It was led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. The 1871 survey was not Hayden's first, but it was the first ...

to honor the first truly official report of an exploration of the Yellowstone region that Doane wrote after the Washburn expedition. Doane also participated in the 1st Hayden expedition in 1871. GustavusCDoane

Doane's account of his and Langford's ascent into the Absaroka Range (The Peak ascended is today's Colter Peak): Image:LangfordYellowstoneLakeMap.JPG, Original Map of Yellowstone Lake showing the first Mount Doane File:MountsDoaneStevensonYNP1871.jpg, Mount Doane (left) and Mount Stevenson (right) 1871

Renaming

Various groups of Native Americans had proposed renaming the mountain in 2017 and 2018, to First Peoples Mountain. The Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association stated that Gustavius Doane should not be honored because of his role in murdering 200 Native American people, predominantly women and children who were sick with smallpox, in the

Marias Massacre The Marias Massacre (also known as the Baker Massacre or the Piegan Massacre) was a massacre of Piegan Blackfeet Native peoples which was committed by the United States Army as part of the Indian Wars. The massacre took place on January 23, 1870, ...

. Based of suggestions by the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council, the Wyoming Board of Geographic names, and the National Park Service, the name "First Peoples Mountain" was forwarded to the Board of Geographic Names. In June 2022 the new name was affirmed by a vote of 15–0.

Notes

{{Wyoming Mountains of Wyoming Mountains of Yellowstone National Park Mountains of Park County, Wyoming

Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition

Renaming

See also

Notes