Most people who have never actually visited the Devil's Tower probably know it from its appearance in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That giant monolith of igneous rock that draws Richard Dreyfuss and the rest of the UFO hunters is an extraordinary peek into America's geologic past, an enticement to rock climbers too spectacular to pass and the subject of a great Native American legend.
The Devil's Tower rises majestically into the air from the ground of the Black Hills in northeast Wyoming. The Tower is near the cities of Sundance and Hulett in Crook County. The summit of Devil's Tower reaches 1,267 feet above the nearby Belle Fourche River.
The Devil's Tower is far more significant than just being an integral part of a blockbuster movie. The Devil's Tower holds the singular distinction of being the first declared National Monument in American history. President Teddy Roosevelt made this declaration in 1906.
The origin of the Devil's Tower is estimated to have been 60 million years ago as a result of the struggle of molten lava through the sedimentary rocks below the earth. Once the magma cooled, it transformed into igneous rock, which fractured apart and formed into the Devil's Tower.
The Devil's Tower welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. In addition to the breathtaking sight of the Tower itself, tourists also come for the camping, fishing, and hiking. It is estimated that around 1% of visitors also take it upon themselves to scale the Devil's Tower, although a voluntary ban on climbing occurs during June for Native American religious reasons.
The June ban on climbing is due to the Devil's Tower being seen as a sacred place by indigenous tribes that include the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Kiowa. One reason for the rock being considered sacred has to do with an origin myth concerning seven sisters who were chased by a bear. The sisters stood on a small rock and prayed for escape, at which point the small rock started growing larger. The bear tried to climb the rock but slid down and his claw marks account for the striations on the side of Devil's Tower.
It is believed that the structure was named Devil's Tower as the result of a mistake. Indigenous tribes originally called it Mato Tipila. This name translated into Bear's Tipi, Tree Rock, Home of the Bear and Great Gray Horn. An American expedition led by Col. Richard Irving Dodge came upon the rock and the story goes that his Indian interpreter understood the name as Bad God's Tower, which eventually became known as Devil's Tower.
The height from the base to the summit is 867 feet. The tower rises 5,112 above sea level. The size of the summit approximates that of a football field: 200 by 400 feet. The circumference of the Devil's Tower is one mile around.
