Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-13
THE DEVILS TOWER.
Wyoming People Object to Woman's
Pre-empting Their Great Curiosity.

A Deadwood, SD, correspondent Of the St.
Louis GtObe-Deniocrdt says: The Devils Tower
is 100 miles northwest from Mount Harvey and
80 miles west of the Dakota line. 1t is in
Crook county, Wyo., 20 miles west of Sundance
and about half mile from the Belle Fourche.
Except the remarkable phenomena found in
the Yellowstone Park in northwestern Wyom-
ing, there are none that will compare for
grandeur with this awe-inspiring monument Of
natures handiwork In eastern Wyoming. The
Devils Tower, or Bear Lodge" is said by
biologists to be without precedent in basaltic
capitalization. 1t is a natural obelisk rising
sheer 1,200 feet above the banks Of the Belle
Fourchs. 1t is 800 feet in diameter at the base
tapering in graceful convex to di-
ameter Of 375 feet at the top. 1t is COM
posed Of Thousands of prisms that extend I'M
broken from base to summit This continuity
OF the crystals is the remarkable feature of the
mass, the tendency of the trappe rock being to
fracture transversely in capitalization and
weather away to the appearance of stairs as in
the CHANTS Causeway, Ireland. Prot. Newton
says: ''Bear Lodge, or Devils Tower, IN its
shape and structure appears not to have been
repeated elsewhere by nature, but stands alone
unique and mysterious. 1t occupies the place
OF chimney to some subterranean furnace
which overflowed with molten rock and, cool
ing, crystallized downward. The surrounding
mighty monument to the work OF crystalliza-
tion-that power scarcely less mysterious than
the force OF life itself"
The land in the vicinity Of DEVILS Tower is
arid and fit only for grazing. Some wheat is
grown in the neighborhood, oats and timothy
and other small grain, but crops are uncertain
and rarely ever amount to more than half q
crop. In view Of this fact the people OF Crook
county were surprised by the announcement a
few days ago that an English lady, one Miss
Carlisle Kent, had filed presumption on the
100 acres on which Devils Tower stands in the
OF the community 1t was intended that this
land should remain public property. The
filing was kept profound secret for some
time, the citizens having no intimation that
an attempt was being made to monopolize
their grand old tower, the pride OF eastern
Wyoming, and hence, as the fact has become
generally known. an indignant protest has gone
up from every part of the community at the
audacity of this English woman. The citizens
are determined that this tower shall become
the private property of no one, much less of a
foreigner. for it is alleged that Miss Kent took
out her naturalization papers only a short time
ago for the express purpose Of fling ON this
land Letters have been written to tho land
department at Washington on the subject, and
resolutions and letters were today addressed to
Senator Moody of South Dakota asking him to
use his influence to defeat Miss Kent's apyli-
cation and to have Devils Tower set apart as
national park.
Miss Kent's idea, it is alleged, was to secure
this ground and convert it into magnificent
private park, rivaling the Yellowstone, and
charge visitors an admittance tee.
Now that this matter is before the public it
is probable that a strong effort will be made to
have Congress set apart tract of land, includ-
ing that on which Devils Tower stands. as a
national park, similar to that on the Yellow
stone.