Spokane County OKs renaming creek

Spokane County commissioners don’t care what Squaw Creek is called as long as it’s called something else.

Commissioners voted 2-0 Tuesday to tell the Washington State Board on Geographic Names that they have no objection to either of two proposed new names.

As part of a now largely successful drive to rid its traditional territory of offensive “squaw” names, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe asked the state board to rename the creek and a canyon through which it passes in Whitman County. The tribe suggested “Awtskin,” a phonetic spelling of the Coeur d’Alene word for “lookout.”

Tribal leaders related the term to an 1858 battle in that general area, in which several tribes defeated Army Lt. Col. Edward Steptoe. They said their ancestors had to be on the lookout for retaliation.

Commissioner Mark Richard said last week that he favored the Awtskin name. But Commissioner Todd Mielke was leaning toward Jack Pine Creek, the name proposed by people who live along the creek, and Commissioner Bonnie Mager favored neutrality.

Mager was absent Tuesday, but Mielke and Richard adopted her suggestion. They noted that most of the creek lies in Whitman County, where commissioners support the Jack Pine name.

Richard said he thought it was appropriate to let the county with “overarching authority for that region have the strongest voice.”

All three commissioners have said they think it is important to change the name.

Richard cited comments that the state names board has received from people who see no problem with keeping the old name.

“It is clear that some folks even today don’t understand the negative connotations of the term ‘squaw,’ so I want to be sensitive to Native American concerns,” Richard said. “I’ll strongly support the notion that it does need to be changed.”

Most American Indians believe the word is a derogatory reference to a woman’s genitals, although the precise meaning is debated by linguists.

Name changes approved at the state level advance to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which last week approved eight “squaw” name changes in North Idaho. Among the changes, Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Squaw Bay is now Neachen Bay – a reference to the onetime practice of hunting deer by driving them into the bay.