ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) 鈥 North America鈥檚 tallest peak is a focal point of Jeff King鈥檚 life.
The four-time winner of the 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race operates his kennel and mushing tourism business just 8 miles (12.87 kilometers) from , and the 20,310-foot (6,190-meter) mountain looms large as he trains his dogs on nearby trails.
King and many others who live in the mountain鈥檚 shadow say most Alaskans will never stop calling the peak Denali, , despite that the name -- an identifier inspired by , who was from Ohio and never set foot in Alaska.
For many who live near Denali, Trump鈥檚 suggestion was peculiar.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know a single person that likes the idea, and we鈥檙e pretty vocal about it,鈥 King said. 鈥淒enali respects the Indigenous people that have been here and around Denali for tens of thousands of years.鈥
The mountain was named after McKinley in 1896, and the first news he heard was that the Republican had been nominated for president.
The name was quickly challenged, but maps had already been circulated with the mountain鈥檚 name in place.
At the time, there was no recognition of the name Denali, or 鈥渢he high one,鈥 bestowed on the mountain in interior Alaska by Athabascan tribal members, who have lived in the region for centuries.
The McKinley name stuck until 2015, when changed it to Denali as a symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives on the eve of his Alaska visit to .
Trump said he issued the order to 鈥渞estore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.鈥
The area lies solely in the United States, and Trump, as president, has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.
In Ohio, Trump's move drew praise.
鈥淚 was really excited to see President Trump do that executive order,鈥 former U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday. McKinley 鈥渨as a great president,鈥 Gibbs said. 鈥淚t was the appropriate thing to do.鈥
That's not how Alaskans see it.
Trump injected 鈥渁 jarring note鈥 into Alaska affairs, Steve Haycox, professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage, wrote in .
鈥淗istorical analysis confirms that William McKinley is the wrong public figure for Alaskans to commemorate,鈥 he said.
McKinley served as president from 1897 until he was assassinated in 1901. He was an imperial colonialist who oversaw the expansion of the American empire with the occupation of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and , pushed by business interests and Christian missionaries wanting to convert Indigenous peoples, Haycox said.
鈥淭rump鈥檚 push to rescind the name Denali for the colonialist and white elitist McKinley is insulting to all Alaskans, especially to Alaska鈥檚 Native people, and should be soundly rejected,鈥 Haycox said.
John Wayne Howe, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House last year representing the Alaskan Independence Party, which holds that Alaskans should be allowed to vote on becoming an independent nation, said he is tired of "people changing the names of stuff, period.鈥
He also is not in favor of naming anything after people because 鈥渢he persons that we consider absolutely perfect change over time, and it just leads to confusion.鈥
Howe said he prefers Denali because he knows McKinley鈥檚 history and it鈥檚 the name most preferred by Alaskans.
This past week, two resolutions were introduced in the Alaska Legislature to keep the name Denali.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Trump ally who praised another order by the president aimed at spurring resource development in the state, said he had not had a chance to speak with Trump about the issue but hoped to have a conversation next month in Washington about what Denali means to Alaskans, Americans and 鈥渙ur Native folks.鈥
But Sarah Palin, a former Republican governor who is also a Trump supporter, said the McKinley name should never have been removed.
Palin鈥檚 Secret Service code name was Denali in 2008 when she was GOP presidential nominee John McCain鈥檚 running mate the year they lost to Obama and Joe Biden.
But in an interview with Al Arabiya News this past week, Palin said she didn鈥檛 see why the mountain鈥檚 name needed to be changed to begin with.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been Mount McKinley,鈥 said Palin, who didn鈥檛 respond to a message from The Associated Press. 鈥淣obody was begging for a change in name in that peak. Just put it back the way it was, more common sense.鈥
Alaska鈥檚 U.S. senators, Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, have supported the name Denali. U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, a first-term Republican, sidestepped the debate.
鈥淚鈥檓 focused on job creation, opportunities in Alaska,鈥 Begich told Politico. 鈥淎nd what we call a mountain in Alaska is of little concern to me.鈥
The Alaska Native Heritage Center, the statewide Indigenous cultural center in Anchorage, supports preserving Indigenous place names.
鈥淩estoring and honoring them acknowledges the deep, millennia-old connection Indigenous peoples maintain with these lands and is a step toward respect and reconciliation,鈥 the center鈥檚 president, Emily Edenshaw, said in a statement.
The quirky Alaska community of Talkeetna, about 140 miles (225.3 kilometers) south of the park and where , is the jumping off point for climbers before making the ascent of the peak. The historic community long rumored to be the inspiration for the 1990s television series 鈥淣orthern Exposure鈥 is also a popular tourist stop.
Joe McAneney of Talkeetna worked as a summer raft-guide for two years before moving to Alaska full time in 2012. He鈥檚 now a pilot for an air taxi company, ferrying climbers and tourists to the mountain in a small airplane outfitted with skis to land at at 7,200 feet (2,194.6 meters) above sea level.
He knows once tourist season comes around, he will have to answer their questions of what he thinks about Trump changing the name. He knows what his answer will be.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been Denali, and it always will be,鈥 he said.
The executive order can instigate the name change, but compliance is another issue.
鈥淭he only people that are going to adhere to that are probably the people that would have been still calling it McKinley anyway,鈥 McAneney said
There is a long-standing Alaska trait of ignoring what the rest of the world thinks, and it's usually expressed like this: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 care how they do it Outside.鈥 Outside, which is always capitalized, refers to every place that is not Alaska.
鈥淚 think unofficially and officially in Alaska, it鈥檒l always be Denali,鈥 McAneney said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the president can change that.鈥
For King, the decorated Iditarod musher and fan favorite, Trump's decision had a whiff of arrogance.
鈥淚鈥檓 surprised he doesn鈥檛 want to name it Trump Mountain,鈥 he said.
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Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.
