The Washington State Board of Natural Resources approved two proposals to rename features in Mason County for early Black settlers of the Kitsap Peninsula and two proposals to rename features bearing a derogatory term that refers to Indigenous women during its meeting Tuesday morning.

 

The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names previously approved the four names adopted Tuesday during its January 19 meeting, forwarding them to the Board of Natural Resources, acting as the state Board on Geographic Names, for adoption.

 

“The legacy of Black homesteaders is an important aspect of Washington’s history and helped shape the state we live in today,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, the elected official who oversees the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. “I am thrilled that the contributions that Rodney White and Nathaniel Sargent made to the communities of the Kitsap Peninsula will be honored with the renaming of these features.”

 

“The stories of Rodney White and Nathaniel Sargent are important. They made positive impacts on their communities, but they are not widely known,” said U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer, Mason County’s representative in Congress. “I’m proud to have supported this effort because renaming these locations in Mason County recognizes their contributions and impacts that might have been forgotten due to the color of their skin.”

 

The Garfield County and Okanogan County proposals came in the wake of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s orders last year to rename geographic features throughout the country that have derogatory names. The Board of Natural Resources adopted the first nine name changes stemming from the federal order during its January meeting.

 

A spring in Garfield County is now named South Tucannon Spring, after the nearby Tucannon River. The name is a distortion of the word “tukanin,” which means “bread root” and is an important food source. The spring previously bore a name derogatory to Native American women.

 

A 10.5-acre lake 2 miles north of Tahuya is now named Nathaniel Sargent Lake, in honor of a Black man born into slavery who homesteaded in Seabeck and became a fixture in the community before dying in 1954. The lake had been named Grass Lake, after being renamed from Negro Slough in the 1990s. That name replaced the previous name, which included a racial slur toward Black people.

 

An unnamed 18-acre wetland 2 miles north of Tahuya is now named Rodney White Slough. White, who was born into slavery in Missouri, moved to Mason County in 1890 and homesteaded there, and some of the roads he built then are still in use today. After White’s death in 1913, the slough where his orchard had been was given a name that included a racial slur toward Black people.

 

The naming history of the two Mason County features is convoluted because of the multiple prior changes to the names of the features involved.

 

A creek in Okanogan County is now named Gooseberry Creek, reflecting the plants that grow nearby. The 2-mile-long stream just outside Aeneas is a tributary of Frosty Creek. The creek previously bore a name derogatory to Native American women.

 

The four names have been adopted into Washington Administrative Code and will now sent to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for federal approval.

 

Detailed information on all initial and final proposals, including maps, historical information, and supporting documentation can be found on the Board of Natural Resources page under the About tab on the DNR website. Information on the policies and procedures of the Committee on Geographic Names can be found in the same location.

 

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