Name: Absaroka Range

 

County: Park

 

Authority Name: Absaroka Range (Mont. and Wyo.)

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1092021W

Latitude: 435740N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 13143/4006

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Range

 

Origin of Name: 

Mountains in and near Yellowstone National Park, Mont. and Wyo. (Not Shoshone, Snow, nor Yellowstone.)

Source: Decisions, 1890-1932 

 

Mountain range, trends NNW-SSE with a highest elevation over 13,000 ft., bounded on the NE by the Beartooth Mountains, on the N and W by the Yellowstone River, on the S by the Wind River, on the SE by the Owl Creek Mountains, and on the E by the Bighorn Basin. Not: Sierra Shoshone, Snow Mountains, Snowy Mountains, Snowy Range, Yellowstone Mountains.

Source: Decisions, 1966

 

Range of mountains in Wyoming, named from the native name of the Crow Indians. Grinnell says the word refers to some kind of a bird, possibly crows.

Source: Gannett, 1905

 

Absaroka is the name by which the Crow know themselves, although according to Lewis and Clark it designated but one band of the tribe. It significance is uncertain, although usually thought to be certain species of hawk. The name "Crow" -literally raven, but translated "Corbeaux" by the French - is an Anglicized form of the name given to this tribe by the surrounding Indians, and may refer to their pilfering tendencies.

Source: WPA

 

Absaroka Range is given for the Crow Indians, whose immemorial home, Absaroka, was in the valley of the Big Horn River at the eastern base of these mountains. The range was first known by the name Yellowstone, and in 1873 was rechristened by Captain Jones, Sierra Shoshone. The present name was given by the U. S. Geological Survey about the year 1885.

Source: Chittenden, 1917

 

This range of mountains has had an unfortunate christening history. It was first known as the Yellowstone Range, from its close relation to the Yellowstone River, of which it is the source. The original name dates from as far back as 1863, and was adopted by the first explorers of the Park country. It was officially recognized in 1871, by both the Corps of Engineers and the United States Geological Survey. When the Park was created this range became its real eastern boundary, and many of its peaks were named for those who had borne prominent parts in its history. The name had thus an added claim to perpetuity. It passed into general use, and appears in all the writings of the United States Geological Survey down to 1883.

In 1873, Captain W. A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, led an expedition through these mountains—the first that ever crossed them. He gave them a new name, " Sierra Shoshone." Except for the fact that he was violating the rule of priority, his action in giving this name, as well as his judgment in its selection, were of unquestionable propriety. It was a tribe of the Shoshouean family who alone dwelt in the Park, or among these mountains, and it was entirely fitting to commemorate this fact in a distinct and permanent manner. The name passed rapidly into public use, and by 1880 had practically supplanted the original name.

For reasons that can hardly be made to appear satisfactory, the United States Geological Survey, in 1883, or soon after, rejected both these names and adopted in their place Absaroka, " the Indian name of the Crow nation " (Hague). Of course this action can have no pretense of justification from the standpoint of the "rigid law of priority." There are very few instances in American geography of a similar disregard for the rights of previous explorers. Unfortunately, not even the argument of appropriateness can be urged in its defense. These mountains, except that portion north of the Park, were never properly Crow territory, and the name is thus distinctly an importation. Its future use is now unhappily assured on account of its formal adoption (for reasons wholly inadequate, it is true,) by the United States Board on Geographical Names. Against the influence of the government, with its extensive series of publications, even though committed to the perpetuation of an error, it is idle to contend ; but it is greatly to be deplored that a feature of the Park scenery of such commanding prominence should not bear a name at least remotely suggestive of some natural or historical association.

Source: Chittenden, 1895

 

Other Names: Sierra Shoshone, Snow Mountains, Snowy Mountains, Snowy Range, Yellowstone Mountains, Snow Range, Shoshone Range, Yellowstone Range 

 

Alternative Spellings:  Absaraka

 

History: 

 

Stories: 

 

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Francs Peak 

 

Newspapers:

 

More Information: 

 

Pictures:

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Yellowstone Lake lagoon just west of the outlet, looking southeast toward the Absaroka Range.

Photograph by J. P. Iddings, Circa 1890. 

Courtesy of the United States Geological Survey Photographic Library