SAN JUAN COUNTY, Wash. — Editor's note: The above video on the process to remove a derogatory word from Washington sites originally aired April 7, 2022.
A proposal to rename a channel in San Juan Islands after one of the first Indigenous elected officials in Washington state was approved for final consideration by a state committee.
The proposed name change would rename Harney Channel, which runs between Shaw Island and Orcas Island, to Cayou Channel.
The proposed name, Cayou Channel, would honor Lummi Nation man, Henry Cayou.
Cayou lived his whole life in the San Juan Islands until his death in 1959. He was a successful commercial fisherman and was one of the first Indigenous elected officials in Washington state, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Cayou served for 29 years as the San Juan Island County commissioner.
Harney Channel was named after notorious American General William Selby Harney in the 1800s. Harney led the U.S. Army’s Department of Oregon from 1858 to 1860 and has a storied history of killing indigenous people throughout the midwest and western territories, and narrowly avoided war with Great Britain, which led to the occupation of the San Juan Islands, according to the Oregon Historical Society.
The proposal, first submitted in early 2021, was approved for final consideration by the Washington State Committee on Geographic Names in April. The proposal is awaiting opinions from many San Juan County organizations including the San Juan County Council and from the Washington State Historical Society.
The proposal will need to be approved at the federal level.
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