Denali change revives call to drop racist name of Washington lake
Venice Buhain - Sep 30, 2015
... Coon Lake is how the National Parks Service refers to a 15-acre lake in the middle of North Cascades National Park. The name is on official maps, on Google Maps, in brochures and on signs on the trails leading up to the lake and the adjoining creek. “Coon” is also an epithet against black people that was in common use during the 19th and 20th century.
However, the state refers to the lake as Howard Lake, named after a 19th century prospector Wilson Howard, who name change supporters say was one of the few African American prospectors to lay claims in the area ...
“It seemed to me strange because there are no raccoons there” ...
Rosenblum’s research showed that the locals started calling the body of water “Coon Lake” after Wilson Howard staked a mining claim in the Chelan area. Howard, one of the few African American prospectors in the area, didn’t stay, but the name was in wide use by 1902 ...
http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2015/09/30/coon-lake-howard-lake-north-cascades-denali/41909
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