Steptoe, Washington — Hill Became a Geological Word

Steptoe Butte rises so abruptly above the rolling Palouse that geologists borrowed its name for an entire kind of landform.

A “steptoe” is an isolated projection of older rock surrounded by younger lava flows, and this butte is the namesake example. Its human history is less tidy.

The area lies within Indigenous homelands and carries the name of U.S. Army officer Edward Steptoe, whose 1858 expedition became part of violent conflict over American expansion. Later, entrepreneur Cashup Davis built a hotel on the summit, betting visitors would pay for the view.

The hotel vanished. The view survived. So did the geological vocabulary.