GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Montana Geographic Names Advisor

Geographic Name Change Request

Change Squaw Hollow to Too-nah-hin Hollow
Cascade County, Montana

Status = Approved

Description valley, 0.9 km (0.5 mi) long, heads at 47o05’09”N, 111o34’55”W; 23 km (14 mi) SE of Cascade; Too-nah-hin is the name of a Tribe of the Salish language family that occupied the area until being decimated by smallpox and intertribal war in the late 18th century
Location 47°04’21”N, 111°34’30”W
PLSS Location Sec 3, T15, R1E and Sec 34, T16N, R1E
Proposal to change a name considered by some to be derogatory
Proponent Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes; Pablo, MT
Not Squaw Hollow
Administrative area None
Previous BGN Action None
See also 39623
GNIS ID 777132
Local Usage None found
Published Squaw Hollow (USGS 1961, 1991; SummitPost website)
mes Squaw Creek and Squaw Hollow apply currently to a 9.2 km (5.7 mi) long stream and a 0.9 km (0.5 mi) long valley in southern Cascade County, approximately 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Cascade. The origin of the current names has not been determined; the stream was first named on a USGS map in 1954 and the valley in 1961. The proposed replacement names, submitted by the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), are derived from the name of a tribe of the Salish language family that occupied the area until being decimated by smallpox and intertribal war in the late 18th century. The proponent reports that this is “documented in Salish-Pend d’Oreille oral tradition and several ethnographic studies.” He also reports that these proposed changes have the support of the Montana House Bill 412 “Squaw Name Change” Advisory Committee and the American Indian Caucus of the Montana State Legislature. However, the Cascade County Commissioners do not support the changes, believing there is no reason to change the existing names. The Montana State Names Authority recommends approval of Too-nah-hin Creek and Too-nah-hin Hollow. A copy of the proposals was forwarded to the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Crow Tribe, the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, and the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho, all of which are Federally recognized, but no response was received, which is presumed to indicate a lack of an opinion.

Montana Geographic Names Advisor Recommendation - Support (Thursday, February 21, 2008)
Domestic Names Committee Decision Date - Thursday, June 12, 2008
Domestic Names Committee Discussion - A motion was made and seconded to approve these two changes.

Vote: 9 in favor
0 against
0 abstentions

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