Next on the agenda was changing the name of Chaffee County\u2019s Chinaman Gulch near Buena Vista to Trout Creek Gulch. In December 2019, Chaffee County\u2019s three commissioners ardently opposed the name change, arguing the name is based on a historical reference to an older Chinese man who lived in the area and cut railroad ties for the long-gone Trout Creek railroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not establish that \u2018Chinaman\u2019 is a derogatory or offensive term, particularly when used in this historical context,\u201d Chaffee County Commissioner Greg Felt wrote in a letter to the U.S. Board of Geographical Names reflecting the commissioners\u2019 unanimous opposition to the name change.<\/p>\n
William Wei, Colorado\u2019s former state historian who serves on the naming advisory board, said he could not understand the county commissioners\u2019 position. Of course it is derogatory, he said, comparing it to the n-word and worrying that the commissioners\u2019 support was encouraging people to continue using the slur.<\/p>\n (The commissioners also opposed the proposed name, saying it was a \u201cpoor choice\u201d to name a tributary after the main drainage of Trout Creek.)<\/p>\n Several Colorado residents joined Wei in affirming the name as offensive and urged support for a name change.<\/p>\n Joanne Liu, whose Asian Girls Ignite group empowers Asian youths, said the current name \u201caims to demean and insult an entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel Tom, who serves as deputy attorney for Chaffee County, said he was surprised the commissioners opposed the name change. His family, which traces its roots to China, has been in the U.S. since the 1860s and includes soldiers who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, said the name of the gulch he rides his bike by every day \u201cdegrades and dehumanizes Chinese people.\u201d He was at the fall 2019 meeting when the commissioners defended the existing name. He said he regrets not speaking up in opposition of the word.<\/p>\n \u201cThese names show how we don\u2019t belong and continue to show that we don\u2019t belong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jordan Super-Hill with the Asian Student Alliance at Regis University suggested a name that would honor the Chinese laborers who helped build railroads in the region.<\/p>\n The board tapped a committee to research the region and come up with potential names that would honor the many Chinese laborers who built railroads in the Upper Arkansas River Valley.<\/p>\n The board also delayed a decision about renaming Negro Mesa and Negro Creek in Delta County to Clay Mesa and Clay Creek, citing a need for more local outreach. The board delayed action on the Delta County name change at its September meeting. (Mexican settlers named the creek and mesa for the region\u2019s dark soil.)<\/p>\n The board also deferred a decision about the proposal to rename Jefferson County\u2019s Redskin Mountain to Mount Jerome, a name honoring the late local artist Irene Jerome Hood.<\/p>\n Additionally, the board delayed action on a proposal by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to change the name of Calkins Lake in Weld County to Union Reservoir after hearing testimony over concerns about the name \u201cUnion.\u201d The board delayed the proposals largely to meet requirements for outreach that ensure widespread input about proposed names.<\/p>\n The lake at the center of Longmont\u2019s Union Reservoir Nature Area is locally known and labeled on many maps as Union Reservoir. The U.S. Board of Geographic names rarely initiates name proposals \u2013 it typically reacts to requests for name changes \u2013 but offered this proposal to align the reservoir name on federal maps with local use.<\/p>\n Sarah Weed, who proposed changing the name of the Jefferson County peak to Mount Jerome in 2019 and helped win support from Jefferson County leaders, urged the board to take swift action \u201cso the process does not drag on for another two years to remove these obviously racist names.\u201d<\/p>\n