Commission approves new name for Swastika Lake

The Albany County Commissioners voted to back a petition for “Knight Lake,” a name that would honor the geologist Samuel Howell Knight. The name change must be approved federally.

The Albany County Commission voted 2-1 to change the name of Swastika Lake — a body of water in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and the last local landmark to bear the “Swastika” name.

Pending approval by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the body of water will henceforth be known as Knight Lake, in honor of Samuel Howell Knight, a geologist with connections to the immediate area who was named Wyoming’s “Citizen of the Century” in 1999.

In choosing to rename the lake, Albany County follows in the footsteps of several Native American tribes who once used the symbol known today as a swastika, but forcefully rejected it once it became associated with Nazis.

In a 1940 proclamation signed by representatives from the Hopi, Navajo and other tribes, indigenous leaders committed to retiring the symbol:

Because the above ornament, which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika or fylfot on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sandpaintings and clothing.

Kim Viner of the Albany County Historical Society shared the quote above with commissioners during their meeting today. The new name, Knight Lake, was originally a suggestion from the historical society.

A brief history of local swastikas

Swastika Lake’s current name predates the symbol’s adoption by the Nazi regime. Before World War II, the swastika — a global symbol borrowed from various eastern cultures — had different connotations. It originally represented good fortune and wellbeing, among other universally positive concepts.

And it was used frequently in Albany County, which was once home to a Swastika Ranch, Swastika Store and even a Swastika Ladies’ Club. The lake itself was named prior to 1935, but there’s no record of why it was given its specific moniker.

During and after World War II, the symbol came to represent the genocidal Nazi regime that had adopted it. It became the symbol for the totalitarian government that launched the deadliest conflict in human history and which carried out the Holocaust. It’s been utilized since by counter-culture groups and is used most frequently today by white supremacists.

After World War II, all of the county’s “Swastika” institutions changed their names, either officially or unofficially.

But Swastika Lake remained — until a pair of petitions were submitted to the Albany County Commission earlier this month. Lindsy Sanders, representing herself, filed a petition for a name-change to “Fortune Lake.” But the commissioners ultimately went with the Albany County Historical Society’s suggestion of “Knight Lake.”

Sanders said she would support the historical society’s more locally appropriate name.

“My goal here is really to remove a name that is so painful to many people,” she said.

Knight was a nationally renowned geologist who worked and taught for decades at the University of Wyoming. He reconstructed the apatosaurus now standing in UW’s Geology Museum and built the T-Rex statue outside. He also has a special connection to the National Forest land where Swastika Lake is located.

“He founded the University of Wyoming Science Camp, which is about a half-mile from Swastika Lake,” Viner told commissioners earlier this month. “Thousands of college students from across the United States have studied the ecology of the Swastika Lake area.”

Commissioner Jones vs. the communists

Commissioner Terri Jones, the board’s only Republican, cast the sole dissenting vote. She had taken a stand against any name change during the commission’s last meeting. Jones argued that a name-change would be akin to erasing history and suggested that those who wished to rename it were carrying out a “communist” agenda.

“We should not change names to suit sensitive people,” Jones said. “An educated person should be able to speak to both sides of the issue, but you must know that there are two sides of the coin to address. Limiting knowledge and removing history are the calling cards of communism. I believe that Swastika Lake should remain Swastika Lake.”

At today’s meeting she doubled down, repeating her line about “the calling cards of communism” and said further that schools are failing to teach students about the Holocaust because “we have a culture that cleanses, disinfects and neuters all aspects of history.”

Jones said she believes this is the true cause of anti-semitism and will lead to people repeating the mistakes of the past.

“Today our government is employing Nazi tactics to divide people in this country — pitting one group against another,” she said. “It is painfully clear people do not know history, as they are following the pied piper.”

In 2020, Jones was a featured speaker at a right-wing militia-recruiting event where attendees were encouraged to “take back our town” by mobilizing against local demonstrators marching in solidarity with the George Floyd protests.

Weighing In

The Laramie Reporter’s coverage of the commission’s first discussion was picked up internationally and inspired a letter to the commissioners from New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft.

Kraft launched the Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign three months ago through his organization, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

“One of the arguments against changing the name of Swastika Lake is that it promotes education around the good and bad meanings of the word ‘Swastika,’” the letter reads. “However, we believe there are many more efficient ways to educate the public around the history and origin of the word such as Holocaust education in schools and educational resources, with the help of reputable organizations, that can be made easily accessible to anyone who is interested in learning more.”

Incidents of anti-semitism and anti-semitic hate crimes reached record levels in the United States last year.