YAKIMA – That whaddyacallit that’s growing on Mount St. Helens – what do you call it?
It’s been called the “blister,” the “wart,” the “thing,” and the “lobe” since it first appeared in October in the crater of the reanimated volcano. One researcher referred to it as “an uplift,” before most scientists agreed it must be a dome.
Naming the dome – now about the size of an aircraft carrier – could be another matter altogether. In one meeting, a scientist threw out a suggestion: 21st Century Dome.
Even the scientists thought that one was awful, Jeff Wynn of the U.S. Geological Survey said with a chuckle. “When he said that, everybody sort of applauded – but with sarcasm.”
And they say scientists aren’t creative.
In 1792, British explorer George Vancouver named the mountain for a countryman, diplomat Baron St. Helens. American Indians in the region referred to the mountain as Loo-Wit Lat-kla or Louwala-Clough, meaning fire mountain or smoking mountain.
The mountain erupted violently in 1980, killing 57 people and shrouding much of the Northwest in volcanic ash. A six-year period of small, natural dome-building eruptions followed, leaving researchers to study the mountain and its growth.
During that time, scientists assigned hundreds of unofficial names to geographic features on the mountain as they performed measurements. The points were usually temporary, destroyed during the volcano’s activity.
Temporary or not, scientists clearly aimed to have the features remembered.
People names were used regularly, including Agnes, Bertha and Blanche. Animals from antelope to zebra rested on the mountain in various forms. A gigantic boulder was affectionately termed Federal Building, with nearby points named Acid and Pot.
One researcher called a point B.O. – after an unsavory co-worker, perhaps? And the Dumb location surely had a story behind it.
From Bugga Bugga to Jailhouse Rock, Polly Purebred to X-Lox, scientists have proven they have a sense of humor, even if the general public doesn’t see it, said Richard Waitt, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist.
They’re just whimsical, he said.
“We’re often accused of being unimaginative. It’s probably partly the nature of being scientists,” he said.
But scientists aren’t unimaginative, just practical, Waitt said. In the case of an emergency, the name of a geographic site should be straightforward and simple.
That underscores the serious nature of naming geographic points, said Grant Smith, a member of the Washington State Board on Geographic Names. The seven-member board approves official names for lakes, mountains, streams and other geographic features in the state.
Names provide a standardized reference point for commerce and rescue operations, but everybody gets into the business of naming when they get interested in something, he said.
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