Hey, Answer Girl -

Behind Safeway on the west side, there's an "H-Y" street. Is it "HY," like CY, or is it "Hy," like high?

- Elmer K. from Casper

The street is actually "Hy," like high, according to Peter Meyers, administrative analyst with the city of Casper

The origin of the street name is unknown, he said.

Kevin Anderson, historian at the Casper College Western History Center, notes that the street name could have started with Harry Yesness, one-time owner of the CY Ranch, which was in the same area where Hy Street now stands.

When Yesness bought the CY ranch, Anderson said, he changed the big "CY" letters on the roof of the barn to "HY" as part of a joke. Perhaps he also decided he deserved a road with his initials, and over time the street became known as "Hy" instead of "HY." This, of course, is all speculation.

Hey, Answer Girl -

Ten miles west of Sundance there are Inyan Kara Road and Creek. Where did those names come from?

- Ron in Casper

Oddly enough, Inyan Kara could just be the work of a wrong translation, according to an undated newspaper clipping Anderson found in the Mokler Collection at the Western History Center.

"Wyoming Place Names," by Mae Urbanek, sites Inyan Kara as an Indian name meaning "stone made." (Fun fact: the first country church in Wyoming was built at the base of Inyan Kara Mountain by Methodists in 1891.)

But the newspaper article disagrees, siting an obvious source's disagreement with the name - a druggist, of course!

"T.J. Gatchell, prominent Buffalo druggist, has produced evidence to show that the peak from which this community in Crook County takes its name should be called Inyan Kaga Paha, meaning 'stone made peak,' from the Sioux tongue, and that it has been improperly translated," the article read. "There is no word 'kara' in the Sioux tongue, according to Dr. V.T. McGillicoddy [sic - McGillicuddy], an authority on the language."

Anderson also points out that the article's writer doesn't specify Lakota Sioux, Dakota Sioux, or Ogallala/Ogalala/Oglala Sioux, each of which presumably has its own dialects and words.

Either way, "stone made" seems to be the source of the mountain, road and creek's names.

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0616 or megan.lee@trib.com

Ask Answer Girl

Answer Girl tackles questions about Casper, the universe and everything else. Submit your questions by e-mail to megan.lee@trib.com, or call Megan Lee at 266-0616. You can also write to Answer Girl, Box 80, 170 Star Lane, Casper, WY, 82602.