Devils Tower

Devils Tower is obviously a mountain, but beyond that basic fact, there tend to be more questions than answers surrounding this iconic landmark.

There are several geological theories and suggestions regarding how it came to be formed into its unique shape, but none of them have been 100% proven. The discussions are usually very serious, only occasionally drifting toward the supernatural, but since no one has an absolute explanation legend tends to mix with science.

One folk legend has it that two girls were playing when they were noticed by giant bears. The girls tried to run away from the bears and climbed to the top of a rock, where they prayed to be saved. The rock rose high in the air, and the girls were saved while the bears left claw marks along the side of the mountain as they tried and failed to climb after the girls.

Long an inspiration and attraction for nature lovers and mountain climbers, Devils Tower was the first site to be named a National Monument in the United States. It received the honor in 1906, thirteen years after the first recorded ascent of the mountain by William Rogers and W.L. Ripley in 1893.