![]() All climbers must register with a park ranger before and after attempting a climb. Today hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rock walls each summer. Technical rock climbing techniques were first used to ascend the Tower in 1937 when Fritz Wiessner conquered the summit with a small party from the American Alpine Club. ![]() ![]() On July 4, 1893, local rancher William Rogers became the first person to complete the climb after constructing a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. , Rising dramatically to a height of 1,280 feet above the Belle Fourche River, Devils Tower has become a rock climbing mecca. forest reserve in 1892 and in 1906 Devils Tower became the nation's first national monument. Recognizing its unique characteristics, Congress designated the area a U.S. Geological Survey party to the massive rock formation and coined the name Devils Tower. Sixteen years later, Colonel Richard Dodge led a U.S. Raynold's Yellowstone Expedition who arrived in 1859. The first documented visitors were several members of Captain W.F. , Fur trappers may have visited Devils Tower, but they left no written evidence of having done so. Ultimately, the rock grew so high that the girls reached the sky where they were transformed into the constellation known as Pleiades. The rock carried them upward to safety as the claws of the leaping bears left furrowed columns in the sides of the ascending tower. One legend tells about seven little girls chased onto a low rock to escape attacking bears. A number of Indian legends describe the origin of Devils Tower. ![]() , Devils Tower, an important landmark for Plains Indian tribes long before the white man reached Wyoming, was called Mateo Tepee, or Grizzly Bear Lodge, by the Sioux. ![]()
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