Why Denali was named after President McKinley
President McKinley William, was president from March 4, 1897 till September 14, 1901 when he was assassinated my a Michigan man
He was succeeded by his Vise President Theodore Roosevelt after a series of successful reforms such as the Gold Standard Act
he was easily re-elected before his assassination. He is also known for taking ownership of the Republic of Hawaii, purchasing the Philippines
Guam, and Puerto Rico. He also led the Spanish-American War which ended in victory. His actions helped put America in a political position
to be called a world superpower for the first time. William Dicky a gold prospector and admirer traveled to mountain in search for gold.
After hearing of McKinleys election victory in 1896 William dubbed Denali Mount Mckinly in honor of the president.
Because President McKinly backed the gold standard and there was a gold rush in the Denali area the prospectors all had great respect for the President
The name stayed out of admiration for the president giving the prospectors a better chance at striking it rich.
The Crash of the C-47 SkyTrain
On September 18th 1944 during a test expedition a C-47 crashed into the side of Mt Deception 16 miles east of Mount McKinley.
The C-47 had a Senators son so the top members of the Alaskan US Army made a mission to find the crash sight.
This 44 man rescue expedition departed on October 10th on snow tactors to the crash site and had to rope down to it.
That is where they found evidence of survivors and even though the ten-foot snowfall made recovering victims bodys.
The rescue team was able to locate the survivors by retracing their steps to Muldrow Glacier. They then began flying
the test crew back to Elmendorf Field in Anchorage with the last member leaving November 24 th.
This disaster is memorialized at the Alaskan Vietnam Memorial in Denali National Park with a statue of a recon team looking through binoculars
At the crash site which has another statue looking back at the memorial.
