D’Arcy Straub is reluctant to add up the number of hours he spent on an effort to rename 97 of Colorado’s mountains. Hundreds. Maybe more.
The former Denver patent attorney and current federal employee recently was notified that all the proposals he submitted two years ago to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names have been rejected.
That includes his idea to recast Pikes Peak as Fluorite Mountain, referencing a mineral that’s found in the Pikes Peak region. Through erosion, it’s released into the drinking water system, which led a local dentist to the discovery that calcium fluoride helps prevent cavities. Straub thinks that’s a more apropos nod to the past instead of the mountain bearing the surname of a U.S. Army explorer…