The United States Board on Geographic Names has voted overwhelmingly to rename Negro Bill Canyon near Moab.It's now Grandstaff Canyon. The board overruled a recommendation by a state committee and the regional office of the NAACP to keep the name. A proposal to change the name was originally submitted in 1999 and rejected in a 2001 decision due to what the board said was a lack of state and local support.
The new moniker honors black rancher and prospector William Grandstaff, whose cattle grazed there in the 1870s.
As of Thursday afternoon, the name change had yet to occur on the U.S. Board on Geographic Names website.
