New Hampshire's Mount Clay to Be Renamed "Mount Reagan"

Lubbock, TX, Avalanche-Journal ^ | 06-16-03 | AP

[Theodore R.]

New Hampshire mountain range to get name change A 'bump on a ridge' soon to be named Mount Reagan

Associated Press

MOUNT CLAY, N.H. (AP) — A peak that New Hampshire is naming for Ronald Reagan is one of the tallest in the White Mountain Range, at 5,553 feet, but it isn't exactly a popular hiking destination.

The rocky summit doesn't even bulge high enough over its supporting treeless ridge to be a distinctive peak, according to the Appalachian Mountain Club, which doesn't include it on its list of peaks over 4,000 feet.

"It's just a bump on a ridge," said Nick Howe, a journalist and White Mountain historian.

Yet, in a state whose primary helped propel Reagan to the White House in 1980, fans of the 40th president say the soon-to-be Mount Reagan is a prestigious address in the Presidential Range.

Neighboring summits are named for President Washington — the highest peak in the Northeast at 6,288 feet — and presidents Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe, Pierce and Eisenhower.

The mountain had been named for Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, who crafted the Missouri Compromise and was nicknamed the "Great Pacificator" for finding solutions that postponed the Civil War.

Supporters of the change say it's appropriate to substitute Reagan's name because Clay was never president.

Opponents say the renaming is premature and inappropriate because Reagan, 92, is still alive. The federal process to change the name of a mountain is not supposed to start until five years after a person's death.

However, New Hampshire's GOP-dominated Legislature voted last month to ignore federal policy.

"We can move on it locally and let the feds catch up," said Rep. Ken Weyler, who sponsored the legislation.

Republican Gov. Craig Benson is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

The U.S. Board of Geographical Names won't consider renaming the peak on federal documents until Reagan has been dead five years, said Roger Payne, the board's executive secretary. Until then, Mount Reagan can appear on federal maps in parenthesis, he said.

The peak can be reached directly in a two- to three-hour hike. It can be reached more easily by going to the top of Mount Washington by cog railway or a toll road, then hiking a little more than a mile down the ridge.

[Theodore R.]

Did you notice how this AP article seems to have an anti-Reagan edge to it?

[C210N]

This 4000 footer is not as high, only 4312 feet, but I
would have preferred if they renamed Mt. Clinton instead.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Hard to miss.

[KellyAdmirer]

Such a catty article. So what if it's not a "good hiking destination" and that it knocks off Clay "The Great Whatever" and it's just a "bump" and so forth and so on. Go out and get some stupid quote from a fellow journalist (what, the people at the DNC were busy?) to underscore your point that the mountain shouldn't have been named for Reagan - yeah, that's the ticket.

Sounds like the author was desperate to downplay the story as much as humanly possible, and only a good editor would ask why - and I have to assume there were no good editors around. This article should be used in journalism classrooms as an example of stinky reporting.

[PaulJ]

Cog Railway with (the flank of) ClayReagan, Jefferson, Adams and Madison

[Paleo Conservative]

I still hate the idea of renaming something that is already named for a person.