Originally published on January 8, 2021 2:49 pm
Three geographic features in Jackson County that were once called Dead Indian Mountain, Creek, and Soda Springs are now officially renamed after the Native Latgawa people.
Senior researcher with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Jennifer Runyon, says she hopes the new names will inspire people to research the Rogue Valley’s history.
“By putting these names on the map and having people maybe seeing these for the first time, we’d like to think they would question that name,” Runyon says. “Do some research. Find out, what does it mean? And they would learn about that tribe that was essentially wiped off the landscape. Names tell stories, retain histories.”