Bingham County residents have long referred to a Wolverine Canyon peak as “Old Pete Morris’ Peak,” though officially it had never been named as such.

But thanks to the current owners of Old Pete’s land and peak, that changed on Jan. 11 when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names unanimously voted to name the summit Petes Peak.

Brent and Rhonda Steffler became convinced that the local name for the peak on their land should be officially recognized so a piece of the area’s history wouldn’t be lost to future generations. With the help of their nephew, Trevor Steffler of nearby Goshen, an online application to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names was made in September 2023.

Turns out there are some rules about naming geographical features. For instance, they can’t be named after anyone living. In fact, the honoree has to be deceased for five years. No problems there; Old Pete died 132 years ago.

Also, there needs to be a reason to name the site after someone. Specifically, there has to be a “direct and long-term” association with the site, though there are exceptions for those that made a significant contribution to the area or those of national or international reputation.

This is how there is a Lincoln Creek in Bingham County though President Lincoln never lived there. In Pete’s case, he lived there, but not for long. However, he made a significant improvement for local farming.

A proposed name can’t duplicate another name in the state or nearby in an adjoining state. In this case there is another locally named Petes Peak in Idaho, about 200 miles northwest of Bingham County in the Payette National Forest. The origin of that name is undocumented, though it is rumored to have been named for someone that once climbed the 8,253-foot peak. It is also known in climbing guides as Peak 8253. However, it isn’t in the Geographic Names Information System of the National Map, and therefore didn’t pose a problem with the Steffler application.

Additionally, they don’t allow naming any geographical feature with offensive or derogatory names, which is why some people are wanting to rename certain landmarks. In fact, at the same meeting last week, the board approved renaming Lake Swastika in Wyoming to be Lake Knight, for this very reason.

You may wonder if the name Petes Peak has a typo; it doesn’t. Apparently, possessive names are not allowed. Pikes Peak in Colorado is a famous long-standing example of this rule. Long names and full names of people are also discouraged, which may be why the original name, Old Pete Morris’s Peak, wasn’t proposed.

And, finally, features being named on Native American lands must be supported by the local tribal government and features in wilderness areas are generally not named.

Besides providing maps to locate exactly where Pete’s 5,650-foot summit is in the Wolverine Canyon, the Stefflers needed to document that there is local support for the proposal. Accordingly, the Bingham County Commissioners held a public input meeting on Dec. 20, 2023, and provided a statement of their support.

As to how Pete significantly contributed to the area, Steffler quoted from the Bingham County History published in 1985 by the Bingham County Centennial Book Committee. The following is a brief historical perspective of Peter Morris, the Wolverine Canyon and Petes Peak, drawn from the same source:

When the Wolverine Canyon was first settled in the 1860s it was through pioneer “squatters” and Union soldiers stationed in Idaho who often chose acreage for their mustering-out pay. It is unknown if the first settler in the Canyon, Solomon Orr, was a part of this latter group, but he had been a West Point Cadet in 1866. He settled where the road along Wolverine Creek forked, an area that was known as the “Middle Place.” In those days there were “homes at every turn of the road and schools and post offices scattered throughout the hills,” very different from today’s spaced farms and ranches.

By 1890, Peter Morris was the one farming the Middle Place. Not content to dry farm as his neighbors were, he engineered a ditch, bringing water from the creek on a side hill to irrigate his crops on the bench above his house and below the peak. It was considered a “work of art” at the time, a work of art that is still supplying water for pivots today.

This is the significant contribution that justified naming the peak after him.

The reason he didn’t live there long was due to his horse. In 1892 his horse fell on him and before he died he asked his friends to bury him on top of the peak he loved and farmed beneath. Unfortunately they weren’t able to get their friend’s body up 5,650 steep feet to reach the summit and fulfill his dying wish.

Perhaps, having his peak forever known as Petes Peak will suffice instead?