In 1879, sailors on observed a volcanic eruption in an icefield and named the volcano Reclus after Élisée Reclus, but the Global Volcanism Program indicates that an earlier eruption occurred in 1869. The volcano first appeared in the 1922 edition of the map West Coast of South América from Magellan Strait to Valparaíso. Legends of the Tehuelche people about black smoke in the region could also refer to volcanic activity at Reclus.