Hey, do we have any more unnamed mountains? Giving legacy to 6 Stephen Mather correspondents

Established in 1890, The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a federal body operating under the Secretary of the Interior Department, “provides Service-wide guidance and coordination on naming geographic features in national parks.”

According to BGN principles: “The person being honored should have had either some direct or long-term association with the feature, or have made a significant contribution to the area, community, or State in which it is located.”

As we’ve begun to look at the Mather letters archived at Berkeley, we’ve already found six individuals whose association with the National Parks resulted in the BGN naming a feature within a Park to commemorate their contribution. 

William Bertrand Acker (1859-1935)

Acker was the Chief Clerk of the Interior Department.  Acker Peak (10,988 feet), a summit in Yosemite National Park, was named for Acker.

Horace Albright (1890-1987) 

Albright served as superintendent of Yellowstone National Park from 1919 to 1929 and worked to make it a model for park management. On January 12, 1929, Albright succeeded Mather as the second director of the NPS and held the post until August 9, 1933.  Albright Peak (10,557 feet) in Grand Teton National Park is named in his honor. 

Arno Berthold Cammerer (1883-1941)

The third director of the U.S. National Park Service. After the project to found Great Smoky Mountains National Park proved expensive, Cammerer secured a promise from John D. Rockefeller Jr., to match $5 million in the acquisition of Shenandoah National Park lands Mount Cammerer  on the northeastern fringe of the Great Smoky Mountains honors Cammerer. 

Col. David C. Chapman (1876-1944)

American soldier, politician, and business leader from Knoxville, Tennessee who led the effort to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1920s and 1930s. Mount Chapman in the park is named in his honor.

George Bucknam Dorr (1853-1944)

Known as the father of Acadia National Park, spent most of his adult life bringing the park into being, caring for the park, and expanding it.  He donated scores of parcels of his own land and persuaded others to donate land or gift funds.  Named after Dorr, Dorr Mountain is one of the more popular and yet overlooked mountains on Acadia.

Richard Tranter Evans (1881-1966)

U.S. Geological Survey senior topographic engineer from 1899 to 1951, who surveyed and mapped this area of the Grand Canyon in 1904.   Evans He drew the first topographic maps of Pikes Peak, the Grand Canyon, and Salt Lake City. He was the acting superintendent of Zion National Park from 1925 to 1926, and superintendent of Hawaii National Park from 1927 to 1928. Evans Butte is a 6,379-foot-elevation summit located in the Grand Canyon National Park.