| Photos From Wyoming Tales and Trails This page: Devil's Tower National Monument, Aladdin. |
 |
|
| Photos From Wyoming Tales and Trails This page: Devil's Tower National Monument, Aladdin. |
|
|
|
|
About This Site |
 Devil's Tower, 1910. Not withstanding the caption on the postcard, the Devil's Tower is located within Wyoming about 21 miles north of Sundance. The Black Hills of Wyoming commence at the Belle Fourche River about 23 miles east of Gillette at Moorcroft. To the early explorers the Black Hills, the Paha Sapa of the native Americans, extended from the Dakotas south to Ft. Laramie. They take their name from the dark color of the trees as seen from afar. Now the term Black Hills refers to the northeast corner of Wyoming in Crook and Weston Counties east of the Belle Fourche River and the western part of South Dakota. Its primary cities in Wyoming are Newcastle, Moorcroft, and Sundance. Its most famous landmark, however, is the Devils Tower National Monument.
 Devil's Tower
For information on John Grabill see Cattle II. Although, the Black Hills were reputedly the first area of Wyoming to be explored, it was also the last. Joseph and Francois Verendrye, French-Canadians, explored portions of Montana and Northeastern Wyoming as early as 1743. Because of Indian threats the Black Hills were not explored until much later than the rest of Wyoming. Early expeditions, however, included those of G. K. Warren in 1857, W. F. Raynold's expedition of 1859 and that of George A. Custer of 1874. This is not to say that no European explorers ventured into the area until then. As indicated on Fur Trapping, Sir St. George Gore's expedition of 1855 ended abruptly near present day Sundance. Valentine T. McGillycuddy, a surgeon and topographer assigned to General Custer's 1874 campaign in the Black Hills, reported the finding of the ruins of a cabin indicating the presence of trappers in the area from an earlier era. There were, however, no descriptions of the tower by white explorers until that of Henry Newton (1845-1877) of the U.S. Geological Expedition of 1875. The name "Devils Tower" was given to the tower by Col. Richard I Dodge, commander of the military escort for the expedition, who contended that the Indians referred to it as the "Bad God's Tower." The Reverend Peter Rosen, a Roman Catholic missionary to the Black Hills, indicated in his 1905 book, Ph-Ha-SA-Pa or the Black Hills of South Dakota, that the Native-Americans called the tower O-Kee_Hee-De-Paha; that the term Mateo Tepee was more properly given to the Bear Lodge district surrounding the tower. According to Father Rosen, the tower was the home of Okeebeede. Others believed that it was the home of Toon-kan, or Inyan, the stone god. Others believed that the stone god dwelt to the southwest in Inyan Kaya. The 1875 expedition, led by geologists Walter Proctor Jenny (1845-1921), after whom the Jenny Stockade near Newcastle is named, and Newton, confirmed the presence of gold in the Black Hills first reported by the 1874 Custer Expedition The Tower, a vertically-jointed volcanic intrusion (the center core of a volcano that cooled before reaching the surface), rises 1,200 feet above the Belle Fourche River. It was first climbed as a part a a Fourth of July celebration in 1893 by Willard Ripley and William Rogers. It was first proposed for protection in 1892 by Frances E. Warren who introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to make it a National Park. In 1906, Wyoming congressman Frank W. Mondell of Newcastle introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to make it a national monument. On September 24, 1906, President T. Roosevelt made it the nation's first national monument.
 Grenier's Store, 1930's Grenier's Store was located near the east entrance to the Monument. Beginning in 1925, the store maintained a registry for visitors to the Monument. Devil's Tower made the national news in October 1941, when a stunt parachutist, George Hopkins, parachuted to the top of the tower. He had planned to come down using a 1/2 inch, 1000 ft. rope. Unfortunately, the drop of the rope missed, and Hopkins was marooned on the top of the tower. Food and water was dropped by airplane until six days later a professional mountain climber was able to scale the tower and bring down Hopkins.
 Train at Aladdin Tipple, undated Aladdin, about 44 miles to the east of Devils Tower, was founded in 1902 when reached by the Wyoming and Missouri River Railroad. Mahlon S. Kemmerer, first president of the Railroad and after whom Kemmerer is named, established the town. The railroad discontinued service in 1927. Parts of the railroad right-of-way are visible along Route 24. The railroad was one of a number of small railroads which pushed into the black Hills to bring out coal and lumber for the mines of Black Hills mining districts of South Dakota. Most were unsuccessful. Lawyer William T. Coad expended some $40,000.00 on railroad construction and went broke in the effort.
 Wyoming Mercantile, Aladdin, 1915 The town today has a population of 15. The Mercantile Building, built in 1896 and on the Historic Register, is still in business as a general store, not much changed except for the presence of an ice machine on the front porch.
 Coal Mine, Aladdin, 1913. 1.2 miles east of Aladdin is the Aladdin Tipple where coal was mined until 1942 in the first underground mine in the area. The coal provided fuel for smelters in Lead and Deadwood, South Dakota. The tipple, hoist house and mine opening have now been restored and are part of an historical interpretive park. Four miles west of Aladdin may be seen ruts from Lt. Col. George A. Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills.
 Aladdin-Hulett Stage, James Henry Chittin driver, in front of Wyoming Mercantile, Aaddin, undated Until the coming of the railroad, transportation for mail and freight in and out of the Black Hills was difficult. Mail and light goods relied upon stages in the form of spring wagons such as depicted above. Heavier freight was by bull train. The primary wagons used in the Black Hills were "Chicago" wagons, manufactured by the Peter Schuttler Wagon Company of Chicago.
 Black Hills Bull Train, 1890, photo by J. Grabill
In the 1880's the largest freight line in the Black Hills was the Evans Transportation Line, owed by Fred T. Evans, which had 1,500 oxen, 250 mules, 400 Schuttler Wagons, and 150 men in its employ.
 Black Hills Bull Train, 1890, photo by J. Grabill Bullwhackers were noted for their "colorful" language. Elling W. "Bill" Gollings (1878-1932), an early cowboy artist, recalled as a youth coming across a bull train along the Belle Fourche: The bull-whacker seeing that I was interested, said, "Howdy" and asked if I had ever seen a bull-train or heard a bull whacker swear. To both questions I answered "no." "Well, kid," he said, "you stay here until I get to the top of this hill and you'll hear something new." I did not need to be asked to watch him pull out, the sight was interesting enough to hold my attention. So I sat my horse and watched him yoke up his eight yokes of oxen and then move. He certainly told the truth, for, besides calling these sixteen head of cattle each by name, apparently in one breath, he introduced one cuss-word after another, until the air was blue with phrases-all new to me. He finally passed the top of the slope that led down to the river and thus passed into history as the last bull-team of that section.Gollins was a working cowboy whose paintings, some of which are on the following page, illustrated the cattle industry in the northeast portion of Wyoming. Next Page: Bill Gollins paintings. |
Devils Tower, Mateo Tepee, 1887, photo by John Grabill.