In short, if we stop to observe, we can see that nature has forms and landscapes that are somewhat strange. Therefore, it is always good to get out of the rush of everyday life and observe the nature around us. In addition to fascinate, enchant and keep many mysteries.
One of these mysteries is the so-called Devil’s Tower in the USA . For scientists, it was formed in a natural way even in the age of the dinosaurs. For the natives of the region, it is a sacred and mythological place. And for students of extraterrestrial life, the tower has another meaning.
She is in Wyoming, USA. The Devil’s Tower is a giant rock formation over 200 meters high. And its origin has a few different versions.
AMAZING FACTS
- From its base, Devils Tower is more than four football fields tall.
- The tower is made up of mostly hexagonal columns, but some have as few as four or as many as seven sides.
- Devils Tower was the first National Monument in the United States – declared as such in 1906 by President Teddy Roosevelt.
- In that proclamation signed by Roosevelt, the apostrophe in “Devil’s” was mistakenly left out, so the form signed by the president named the monument “Devils Tower,” with no apostrophe. The typo was never corrected and the spelling stuck.
- The small, colored bundles of cloth that are often seen around the base of Devils Tower are sacred offerings left by American Indian tribes. The tower is a cultural and religious focal point for several different tribes.
- Because of it’s cultural significance to American Indians, a voluntary rock climbing closure is in effect every June.
- No guide is required to climb the tower, but all rock climbers must register at the ranger station both before and immediately after attempting to climb the tower.
- More than 150 rock climbing routes have been established on Devils Tower.
- The top of the tower was first reached by two local cowboys who constructed a wooden ladder system and attached it to the side of the tower. Remnants of the wooden ladder can still be seen on the side of the formation.
- Things the National Park Service warns climbers they might encounter on the tower: snakes, spiny plants, poison ivy, falcon attacks, wasps and falling rocks.
The falling rocks I understand. But I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a falcon attack a human. In any case, I learned a lot about Devils Tower and hope you did too.
One is that the name was first given around 1875, on an expedition led by Richard Irving Dodge. The name came due to a translation error. Another theory says that the name of the tower was given by the indigenous natives of the region.
Scholars estimate that the tower formed approximately 50 million years ago at the end of the dinosaur era. And that it was the pressure that made the earth move upwards.
For the indigenous people, the original version of the tower is different and they consider it sacred. According to native beliefs, the cracks that are seen on the outside of the tower would have been made by giant bears. And the belief is that this would have happened during a bear chase after girls playing near what is now the tower.
Legend has it that these girls would have said a prayer and the mountain grew up saving them from the bears. And when the animals tried to scale the tower to reach them, they left the visible marks.
The belief is that the rock reached the sky and the girls would have turned into the constellations that are currently known as the Pleiades. And to this day, the region’s indigenous natives perform rituals at the site at certain times of the year.
A third theory for the tower’s origin comes from UFO and alien scholars. For them, the Devil’s Tower is a kind of “airport” for aliens. Just as he appears in the 1977 science fiction film “Close Contacts of the Third Degree”, where a group of people try to make contact with aliens who land their ships in this mysterious tower.
The tower has become mystical because of its crevices that make it possible to climb it. And there are reports that the tower’s first ascent supposedly took place in 1893.
Whatever its real origin, the Devil’s Tower was the first national monument in the United States. It was opened in 1906 by then President Theodore Roosevelt.
1. DEVILS TOWER IS SACRED TO MANY NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES.
To the Northern Plains Indian Tribes, Devils Tower isn’t just a stunning landmark—it’s a sacred place. It appears in multiple oral histories and sacred narratives, and is also known by multiple ancient names.
For example, the Arapahoe call Devils Tower “Bear’s Tipi”; the Kiowa refer to it as “Aloft on a Rock” or “Tree Rock”; and the Lakota people know it as “Bear Lodge,” “Bear Lodge Butte,” “Grizzly Bear’s Lodge,” “Mythic-owl Mountain,” “Grey Horn Butte,” and “Ghost Mountain.” However, it’s commonly referred to as “Mateo Tepee,” which is likely Sioux for “Bear Wigwam,” or “Bear Lodge.” (Long ago, the surrounding region was home to many bears.)
To this day, Devils Tower is frequently the site of ceremonial rituals, including sun dances, sweat lodges, and prayer and artifact offerings. (While visiting the park, make sure not to touch or move any religious artifacts.)
2. ITS NAME IS CONTROVERSIAL.
Devils Tower received its popular English name in 1875, when Colonel Richard Irving Dodge led geologist Walter P. Jenney’s scientific expedition through the Black Hills region. They were there to confirm claims of gold, first initiated by General George Armstrong Custer. But when they arrived at the rock formation, they were overwhelmed by its natural beauty. Dodge described the landmark as “one of the most remarkable peaks in this or any country.”
Dodge recorded the butte’s name as “Devils Tower,” writing that the Natives “call this shaft The Bad God’s Tower, a name adopted with proper modification, by our surveyors.” But since so many Native names for the towering formation referenced a bear—plus, Native translations for “Bear Lodge” appeared on early maps of the region—it’s likely that Dodge’s expedition simply mistranslated the landmark’s name. (In the Lakota language, the bad god or evil spirit is called wakansica, and the word for black bear is wahanksica.)
In recent years, Native tribes have petitioned to officially change the name of Devils Tower to Bear Lodge, as they find the current moniker offensive. Meanwhile, other locals argue that changing the formation’s name would cause confusion and harm regional tourism.
3. DEVILS TOWER WAS AMERICA’S VERY FIRST NATIONAL MONUMENT.
Devils Tower was the very first official United States National Monument. It was proclaimed by President Theodore Roosevelt—who famously loved the American West—on September 24, 1906, shortly after he signed the Antiquities Act into law. Roosevelt made Dodge’s translation the tower’s official name, but along the way, the apostrophe in “Devil’s Tower” was dropped due to a clerical error. The error was never corrected, and to this day, the tower is simply called “Devils Tower.”
4. IT’S NOT A VOLCANO.
Some claim that Devils Tower is an old volcano, but geologists say it’s likely an igneous intrusion, meaning it formed underground from molten rock, or magma, that pushed up into sedimentary rock and became solid. Over millions of years, the surrounding sedimentary rock eroded away to display the tall, grayish core within.
Experts estimate that the formation of Devils Tower occurred about 50 million years ago, whereas the erosion took place between 5 and 10 million years ago.
5. IT’S NOT HOLLOW.
Devils Tower is composed of a rock called phonolite porphyry, which is like a less sparkly granite, as it contains no quartz. And while it may appear hollow at a distance, the striated monument is actually solid. (The NPS compares it to “a bunch of pencils held together by gravity.”)
6. BUT IT’S STILL REALLY BIG.
Devils Tower isn’t simply tall—it’s also very wide. Its summit is around 180 feet by 300 feet—roughly the size of a football field—and the circumference of its base is around one mile.
7. IT’S A FAMOUS ROCK-CLIMBING ATTRACTION.
Devils Tower is popular among rock climbing enthusiasts, who rely on its many parallel cracks to shimmy their way to the top. (Long before modern climbing equipment existed, local ranchers simply made do with a wooden ladder.) According to the National Park Service, Devils Tower sees between 5000 and 6000 rock climbers a year.