Posted on 10/15/2005 1:46:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Federal officials have rejected a request to change the name of Mount Diablo after receiving complaints that it was offensive to some religions.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted unanimously this week to keep Mount Diablo's name the same, saying it "saw no compelling reason to change the name," said spokeswoman Jennifer Runyan.
The Portland, Ore.-based agency was responding to a complaint by Art Mijares, an Oakley man who wanted the name changed to reflect American Indian languages.
He withdrew his first suggestion, Mount Kawukum, after learning the moniker was a gimmick promoted by an early 20th century real estate developer.
He then suggested Mount Yahweh, claiming the word meant not only "God" in Hebrew but also "The Creator" in the tribal language of the Miwok tribe. But a tribe spokeswoman said the word is not listed in the Miwok dictionary.
The agency also denied the request of a Marin County couple seeking to change the peak's name to Mount Ohlone and Mount Miwok after two local indigenous tribes.
Mijares said he was not surprised by the ruling because he had encountered stiff state and local opposition.
"I understand that it is a long-standing name and I understand there are interest groups that aren't open to change," he said.
The name Mount Diablo comes from a name Spanish soldiers assigned to an indigenous village set near a thicket near modern-day Concord. Soldiers said a group of American Indians escaped an 1805 military campaign with the help of evil spirits.
They called the site "Monte del Diablo," or thicket of the devil, and American explorers later mistakenly applied the name to the mountain itself, historians said.
Mr. Mijares had best be careful with "Native American" place names. Out in Borden County, Texas, there is a mesa that is shown on the maps as Muchokoowaga Peak.
Turns out that Muchokoowaga is a Spanish-Comanche coinage -- that literally translates to "copious amounts of buzzard $hit".
I just have to laugh at something like this...
Hey there.
I went to Clayton Valley, and I hope the good people of the area reject every PC name change that comes along. Of course our mascot was the Eagle and our colors were Red White and Blue, so the ACLU probably has CVHS in its sights too. (The funny thing was the school song, the words were typical, but the tune was Deutschland Ubberalas, but we got away with that too Good for you for keeping your letter sweater, somehow I misplaced (and outgrew) mine.
outgrowing clothes doesn't work for me..I prefer to say that excessive washing "shrunk" them...:)
Much of the mapping of California was triangulated from this peak of Mt. Diablo.
This time of year the road to the top of Mt. Diablo is crawling with tarantulas the size of your hand.
I might need to check that out! I've seen rattlesnakes, and once saw a crazy mofo unicycler biking up to the top, but never any tarantulas.
Heck, they have even poluted Concord. They never should have built that tunnel
I decided to drive up early in the morning -- there was a thick winter tule fog in the valley but the ranger at the bottom of the mountain called up to the top and verfied that it was clear up there.
The view from the top was an ocean of fog below with the Bay Area peaks appearing as islands poking up through the fog deck. Amazing.
If you position yourself in the right spot, you can also see the Golden Gate to your right periphery and the Sierra to your left. It is a great spot.
This is so funny - not two hours ago, my son told a friend the same fact about the view from Mt. Diable and Kilimanjaro (aka the Polish VOR - Polish airline pilots trained here some time ago, and that's how they found their way back to the Bay Area).
I live right near Mt. Diablo, in PH, and am really fond of it. Can't wait to get up there to see the view!
I also like the one night per year they light the old WW II beacon.
Panarama is largely determined by height. Mt. Diablo is less than 4000 feet. There are many that are several times this height. From Mt. Olympus, you can theoretically see about four times the land area, but this is affected by the topology as you mention.
Clothes shrink with time.
Debunking the Mt. Diablo viewshed myth.
http://www.k-online.com/~esquared/outdoor/diablo.htm
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