First Peoples Mountain

First Peoples Mountain, a 10,551-foot peak east of Yellowstone Lake in the Absaroka Range, rises in a rugged volcanic landscape explored during Yellowstone’s early surveys. Long known as Mount Doane, it was named in the early 1870s for Lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane after the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition of 1870 and the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. In 2022, after proposals from Native American groups and recommendations from tribal, state, and federal bodies, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names renamed it First Peoples Mountain. The change reflected opposition to honoring Doane because of his role in the Marias Massacre and linked Yellowstone’s exploration history with greater recognition of Indigenous perspectives.

Wyoming · United States