Liggett said a compromise could perhaps be reached by eventually changing the name of the butte to satisfy Indian religions but keeping the title of the national monument the same. Most agree the name is historically inaccurate but question the logic of changing it now, given the name's century-long presence. He's also heard some government legislation is in the works to halt any future name change. He said the tower is as sacred to him as the Indians and it's the current name he wants kept. Jerry Knapp, who lives near Devils Tower, believes a name change is totally unnecessary. She believes her views are typical of many other local leaders and residents. 'We'd like to see the name left as Devils Tower,' said Mayor Velma Brandenburg of the nearby town of Pine Haven. He'd just like the issue resolved as soon as possible. However, he admits his argument is spiritual and that the counterargument is economic.

'The name just does not seem to fit,' he said, explaining 'Bear Lodge Butte' is what his father and grandfather called the tower. Johnson Holy Rock, another member of a local tribe and representative for the Grey Eagle Society, agrees. He considers the Black Hills area a holy land, like Jerusalem, and favors a name change back to an Indian title - such as Bear Lodge. He said the butte and the entire area is an integral part of religious history for many Indian tribes. It is satanistic,' Steve Brady, a representative for the North Cheyenne Tribe, said. She's not sure when - and if - an official name change will ever be presented, but it's become a hot topic anyway. Board of Geographic Names' Domestic Names Committee discussed the tower's name for an hour last week while meeting at the Red Lion Hotel.'Everyone's at the poker table,' Devils Tower National Monument superintendent Deb Liggett said at the meeting.

Now, even though there's no current proposal for a name change, a battle is heating up over both the historical accuracy and the sinister connotations of the Devils Tower title. However, the prominent butte's name has always been considered offensive and satanic by local Indian tribes. Visitor Center Closes at 7pm during the peak.Devils Tower, an 865-foot-tall monolith resembling a petrified tree stump in northeastern Wyoming, is a national monument. After Labor Day, hours change to 9:00 a.m. The visitor center is open Memorial Day through Labor Day from 8:00 a.m. The visitor center is open early April through late November (weather permitting). Devils Tower is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The most popular trail is 1.4 miles long, is paved, and circled the Tower. The monument offers a visitor center with displays, a small bookstore, ranger led programs and several trails. To Celebrate the centennial year of the National Park Service entrance fees will be waived in 2017 on the following days:Īpril 22-23 – Weekends for National Park WeekĪugust 25 – National Park Service Birthday Known by several northern plains tribes as Bears Lodge, Devils Tower is a sacred site of worship for many American Indians.Īn entrance fee is required to enter Devils Tower. Once hidden beneath the earth’s surface, erosion has stripped away the softer rock layers revealing the hard rock tower below. This nearly vertical monolith rises 1,267 feet above the meandering Belle Fourche River. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument in 1906.

Yearly, thousands of tourists come to gawk at its unusual shape. Steven Speilberg used Devil’s Tower National Monument as backdrop to his blockbuster movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Devil’s Tower National Monument, located near Belle Fourche, South Dakota, is a most improbable geological rock formation, sticking up a thousand feet in the air above the surrounding valley like some giant, prehistoric tree-stump.

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