----------------------------Original message----------------------------
     Phil Hoehn
     Michael Cooley
 
     I am disappointed in the knee-jerk response from USGS.
     I had taken the term to be Sheep's Hit, 'hit' thought
     to be derived from the Old High German 'hytte', a worn
     place on a hilly knoll from where animals, in this case
     sheep, are accustomed to jump an intervening narrow
     gully to a similar hump on the other side to reach
     other grazing grounds.  'Hytten' are identified by the
     diaspora of narrow sheep tracks focussing towards or
     fanning away from them.  With such a density of use it
     is natural to find faecal deposits in the vicinity, but
     I think the term describes a legitimate topographical
     feature.  It is interesting to find the term put to
     use, and appearing on a map, so far from its place of
     origin.
 
     Andrew Cook
 
     Dr A S Cook
     Map Archivist
     India Office Records
     197 Blackfriars Road          E-mail: [log in to unmask]
     London SE1 8NG                  Phone: +44 171 412 7828
     United Kingdom                    Fax: +44 171 412 7858
 
     P.S.  Only two months to go.
 
 
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: response to "Carto-humor" posted Jan 28,1998
Author:  Michael Cooley <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Date:    30/01/98 15:30
 
Phil: This notice is in response to your message posted Wednesday Jan
28, 1998 titled Carto-humor?  Sheep Mountain, ID 7.5 minute topographic
map was revised by the US Forest Service and printed in August by the US
Geological Survey (USGS).  The name "sheepshit" did not appear on the
previous edition of the map and is not the name of a feature on the map.
 Forest Service has been notified of the error.  The map has been put on
hold pending an investigation and will be reprinted by USGS as soon as
possible.  We apologize for any offense this name might have caused.
Michael Cooley, Cartographer [log in to unmask]