Near and dear to this blogger's heart, it was nice to see that Alaska did not forget the U.S. presidents when naming their cities, lakes, mountains, and streams. Here is a sample I found.
Cleveland Peninsula, near Ketchikan - Named in 1886 by U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for Grover Cleveland (who was serving his first term in office at the time)
Lincoln Rock and Abraham Islands - Named in 1886 by Lieutenant Commander A. S. Snow, U.S. Navy, for Abraham Lincoln
Jefferson Peak (94 mi. E of Sitka) - named in 1887 by Lt. Commander C. M. Thomas, U.S. Navy, for
Thomas JeffersonRoosevelt Lagoon (near Ketchikan) - Local navigators' name obtained in 1904 by H. C. Fassett, U.S. Bureau of Fisheries; named for Theodore Roosevelt
Mt. Harding (near Skagway) - Named in 1924 by the Skagway Alpine Club for Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923), 29th president of the United States who visited Skagway in 1923.
Mt. McKinley - The highest peak in North America was originally named Denali ("The High One") by native peoples.
Denali was renamed Mount McKinley for William McKinley, a nominee for president, by the Princeton graduate and gold prospector, William Dickey. Dickey was one of the hundreds of prospectors seeking gold in the 1896 Cook Inlet stampede. The naming has been described as "politically driven." (Did we mention that this was an election year?)
It seems that presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan favored a silver standard for currency, while McKinley favored the gold standard. Dickey met many silver miners who were Bryan proponents (and quite vocal about it), so the naming (for the gold standard champion) was retaliation.
In the 1970s there was a movement to get the mountain's original name restored, but this was met with resistance by Ohio congressional representatives (McKinley's home state). A compromise was to rename the national park (containing the mountain) to Denali National Park, while the mountain keeps the name of the president.
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