What started as an administrative proposal to officially change the name of a body of water in Weld County enters its second month of discussion with the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board — with no resolution in sight.
One of the issues is whether “Union” is, as one person suggested, tied to efforts by some residents of Weld County to secede from Colorado and that the word has ties to the Confederacy.
Last month, the federal Board on Geographic Names asked that Calkins Lake be renamed Union Reservoir. Union is its common name, according to Jennifer Runyon, a liaison to the Colorado board from the U.S. BGN.
Google Maps also refers to it as Union Reservoir. The lake is located between I-25 and Longmont, just south of Highway 66. Another, smaller body of water just west is also known as Calkins Lake, but locals refer to it as Jim Hamm Pond, part of the Jim Hamm Nature Area.
During that October meeting, Runyon said the U.S. board rarely initiates name change proposals. Weld County does not have an official position, she told the committee. The city of Loveland supports the proposal.
Ken Huson, water resources manager for the city of Longmont and president of the Union Reservoir Co., said in October he also supports the change. In 1902, the Union Ditch Co., located near LaSalle, built the reservoir, covering more than 700 acres. At that time, the reservoir was named Union Reservoir. It’s also the name used in state water rights decrees, Huson told the committee.
The Colorado board previously rejected a name change for another reservoir in western Colorado, in part because of how state water rights identified the reservoir.
“I’m against (the name change),” said JD Ruybal, a member of the public who frequently weighs in on name changes. His objection is based on Weld County wanting to secede from the state of Colorado and that the state “ought to get away from this verbiage.”
He later claimed the name’s connotation is tied to the Confederacy.
The reservoir is about 24 miles west of Greeley, according to Runyon.
The Union name likely is tied to the original name of Greeley, Union Colony.
State Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Adams County, said during that October meeting that if the Union name represented settlers from Union forces, that could be part of the roots of the name. There’s been tension over the years in the Greeley area (which she didn’t identify) and perhaps the state board should look more into that before adopting a new name, she said.
Ruybal then threw in his views of the Proud Boys and patriot movements, and added that secession talk is still alive and well in Weld County.
According to Wikipedia, the Union name for Greeley started as the Union Temperance Colony, founded by Nathan Meeker as a “religiously oriented utopian community of ‘high moral standards.’” Horace Greeley, the New York Tribune editor, for whom the city is now named, financially backed the colony, founded in 1869.
The Colorado board moved no closer to a decision in its meeting Thursday.
Runyon pointed out that the federal board has conflicting policies related to this kind of issue. One says the BGN is reluctant to change longstanding names, referring to Calkins, a person of some prominence in the area in the 1800s. To remove a commemorative name could be seen as dishonoring the person. However, the BGN supports even more strongly local use and acceptance, she explained.
It may not be right to discard the Calkins name, Runyon said, although no one from the Calkins family weighed in on the change. There’s more than 60 years of common usage of Union, including on federal maps.
The Colorado board decided to reach out to the Calkins family to get their opinion, and put off a decision for another month. They did the same with five other requests on the November agenda, all which have been on the board’s agenda for two or more months.
That included a proposal in Chaffee County to rename Chinaman Creek to Trout Creek Gulch. According to Commissioner Keith Baker, the proposal did not come from someone in Chaffee County, and that person was not at Thursday’s meeting.
The new name is not favored by commissioners, although they haven’t voted on it, Baker said. They would prefer a name to honor people of Chinese heritage who lived in the area and helped build the railroads, Baker explained.
“We want to get on the right side of history,” Baker said.
Baker said commissioners and other local residents are doing research to find suggestions that would make for a better tribute to Chinese immigrants, some who are buried at the Buena Vista cemetery.
Runyon commented during Thursday’s meeting that the federal board is impressed with the detailed discussions and efforts by the Colorado board, despite the five-year gap when there was no Colorado board. The people on the board clearly are passionate about the issues, she said.
This content was originally published here.
