Seattleites Declare War on a Magazine Over Mount Rainier
Prominent citizens refuse to pay subscriptions to a publication that renamed Mount Rainier as 'Mount Tacoma'.
The story, cleaned up
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The feeling aroused by the action of the New England Magazine in deliberately changing the name of Mount Rainier to 'Mount Tacoma' in an article on Seattle is likely to take a very practical form. Subscribers feel their confidence has been betrayed. One prominent lawyer remarked he would refuse to pay his subscription, joking that he was not afraid to trust a King county jury. C. W. Anderson, who placed an advertisement, stated he would not pay for it, having been promised the mountain would be identified correctly. C. T. Conover also intends to cancel his subscription, calling the substitution a ridiculous imposition. The author of the article is equally frustrated, insisting he never used the name 'Mount Tacoma'.
“I think the substitution of the name Mount Tacoma for Mount Rainier is one of the rankest impositions I ever heard of.”
The 'Mount Rainier vs. Mount Tacoma' naming dispute was a defining civic struggle in the late 19th century, representing how frontier cities competed for branding and cultural legitimacy. The fierce possessiveness Seattle displayed here echoes modern debates over city identity and the power of local gatekeepers to influence public narrative.
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