“Squaw Peak” and “Squaw Gulch” no longer exist. These locations, north of Salero Road, are now officially renamed as Santa Rita Peak and Santa Rita Gulch.
But why?
The replacement of local place names containing “the word ‘squaw’ is part of a nationwide, federally mandated purging. In 2021, the Interior Dept. formally declared “squaw” to be an offensive and derogatory term. “The term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women,” the Interior Dept. stated in a news release.
This Federal mandate came as a Secretarial Order from Deb Haaland, the first Native American Secretary of the Dept. of Interior. At the time of issuing it, she said “Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage―not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression. Today’s actions…mark a significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”
To implement the name changes, Secretary Haaland’s order also established a task force to work with the US Board on Geographic Names. The Board has compiled a nationwide list of 660 US place names containing “squaw,” including land features like peaks, meadows, and valleys, and watery places like bays, lakes, springs and creeks. Through this Board, citizens can propose name changes. In choosing a new name, the Board is required to consult with any interested tribal groups as well as any local resident groups.
In Arizona, there were 67 instances of “squaw” having been in place names, distributed among 12 of the state’s 15 counties. Maricopa County, for example, has had two re-namings. First, for Squaw Peak, north of Phoenix, efforts to change the name had begun in 1992, culminating in a name change in 2008, to Piestewa Peak, after Lori Piestewa, a Hopi US Army soldier who had been the first Native American female to die in combat. Piestewa’s name was also used to rename the Squaw Peak Parkway.
Haaland’s order covered only Federal place names, so municipal and private entities are not required to change their names. For public streets, renaming can be an intensive and often heated process, with residents rightfully objecting that it’s a lot of work to try to change your address everywhere you might have it registered.
In Southern Arizona, Cochise County had one name on the geographic features list, another Squaw Peak. Pima County and the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui Reservations have no entries. Closer to home, Santa Cruz County (SCC) has two names on the list, a peak and a gulch, side by side. The peak is now Santa Rita Peak, and to the east of it, the renamed Santa Rita Gulch drains southeast to Sonoita Creek.
About four miles up from the Patagonia side, Salero Rd. (Forest Service Road 143) swings left at a junction that until this summer displayed the only known road signage with the S-word—old, cracked and barely legible. An arrow had pointed to Squaw Gulch Rd, now officially labeled Ivanhoe Road in the SCC roster of streets. The name “Ivanhoe” comes from the historical Ivanhoe Mine in the area. It’s a short, obscure side road (FS Road 144) that sees little use and has no signage. Google maps still has it labeled as “Squaw Gulch Road.”
On Salero Road, the Nogales District of the Coronado National Forest has replaced the former signs, one facing each way, as before.
The Coronado National Forest map for Sierra Vista and Nogales Ranger Districts also shows a hill named South Squaw, a cattle tank named Squaw, and Squaw Flat Spring, but these names are little used, not labeled on other maps, and unlikely to even have signage.
In a recent email exchange, Tohono member April Ignacio wrote, “I find it necessary for some of the derogatory names of places and spaces to be eliminated, and I love that Lori Piestewa Peak in Phoenix has replaced one of those derogatory names.”
She also explained that in her Nation, there is a place-naming tradition that’s based on the abiding O’odham connection to the land. If you look at the horizon of what the dominant culture calls the Santa Rita Mountains, it’s easy to see the land-based connection to the range’s O’odham name To:wa Kuswo Doʼag, meaning ”Turkey Neck Mountain.”
The renaming of a peak and a wash in the Patagonia area is a symbolic step toward atonement for the past abuse, enslavement, dislocation, and genocide of millions of indigenous residents of the continent. Switching out a couple of obscure signs could perhaps be seen as a tiny gesture, the tip of an iceberg, but it nevertheless addresses a cultural wound that festers through the generations.