Renaming Dead Indian Lake

A posting by Winter Rabbit brings an old controversy to our attention:

Dead Warrior Lake christened

Local residents giving new name cool reception

By Josh RabeCall it what you want, but officially, there no longer is a Dead Indian Lake in Roger Mills County.

The official name now is Dead Warrior Lake, ending for some a controversy over the lake's name that has been going on for almost a decade.

The final decision on the lake's name came in June, when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to change the name, which it considered offensive to American Indians.

But the decision has had little effect at the local level.

"Too many of us are fourth or fifth generation here and our grandfathers homesteaded this area. We always knew it as Dead Indian Lake," said Leona Keahey, who lives about two miles west of the 80-acre lake.

That has been the lake's name since a dam was built on Dead Indian Creek in the 1950s to create the lake, and the name followed naturally. The first settlers in the area came up with the name after discovering a Cheyenne burial site.

Cottonwoods that lined the creek made for a perfect burial site near the tribe's winter camp.

A Norman woman challenged the name in 1997, complaining the name was too similar to a notorious saying attributed to Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian."

The Oklahoma Board on Geographic names took up the issue and spent eight years trying to reach a decision on whether to change a name that had local historical value or keep it at the risk of being offensive, said Wayne Furr, the board's secretary. After nine years, the federal board stepped in, changing the names to Dead Warrior Creek and Dead Warrior Lake.Comment:  I don't think the real problem is the resemblance of the "Dead Indian Lake" name to the "dead Indian" saying. It's the idea of commemorating dead Indians with a name that seems to celebrate how dead they are. Therefore, changing the name to Dead Warrior Lake isn't much of an improvement.

I wonder how many of the dead Cheyenne "warriors" died of disease, warfare, and other maladies brought by Euro-Americans. Is this really something we want to commemorate. While we're at it, let's change the name of Dallas's Dealey Plaza to Dead Kennedy Plaza.

At least the Dead Kennedys band was trying to be provocative. It was trying to gain notoriety with a name many considered offensive. What's the excuse of those who defend the name "Dead Indian Lake"?

Okay, suppose the Cheyenne burial ground was the lake's only distinguishing feature. Is Dead Indian (or Warrior) Lake the only name someone could think of? How about Holy Road Lake? Soaring Spirit Lake? I.e., something that celebrates the Cheyenne spirit and reflects their beliefs about the afterlife.