Find Out the NH Connection to Mount McKinley Name Change

How is it a New Hampshire man came to name a mountain in Alaska after a politician from Ohio?

You may have heard that Mount McKinley, after nearly a 120 years, is going back to being called Denali. Alaskan's were unhappy with the name change to begin with and never accepted the name change-- and it is an interesting story as to why it took so long to revert it back to the name those who live nearest have preferred all along.

According to wikipedia, it was New Hampshire born gold prospector William Dickey who changed the name to Mount McKinley in the first place. William McKinley at the time was a presidential candidate who preferred the gold standard rather than silver, and this stance was in the gold prospector's best interests. In an effort to help McKinley's presidential bid, he renamed Denali on maps he produced in order to shed a positive light on the man who would only later become the country's 25th president.

The politically motivated name change stuck for all these years despite continued protests by those from those Alaska, a history that is well outlined in this Washington Post article. Now it leads to some strange political bedfellows as Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and President Barack Obama find themselves in rare agreement!