Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming (1984)

Devils Tower National Monument Wyoming
Produced by the Division of Publications National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 1984
National Park Handbooks, compact introductions to the great natural and historic places administered by the National Park Service, are designed to promote understanding and enjoyment of the parks. Each is intended to be informative reading and a useful guide before, during, and after a park visit. More than 100 titles are in print. This is Handbook 111. You may purchase the handbooks through the mail by writing to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC 20402.
Devils Tower National Monument is in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming. The major attractions are the volcanic rock Tower and protected prairie dog communities. This handbook is published in support of the National Park Service’s management policies and interpretive programs at the park. Part 1 of the handbook gives a brief introduction to the park and its history; Part 2 takes a close look at the area’s natural history and, in particular, prairie dogs; and Part 3 presents concise travel guide and reference materials.
Main entry under title:
Devils Tower (National park handbook: 111) Bibliography: p. Includes index. Supt. of docs. no.: I 29.9/5:111 1. Devils Tower National Monument (Wyo.) I. United States. National Park Service. Division of Publications. II. Series: Handbook (United States. National Park Service. Division of Publications); 111. F767.D47D48 978.7′13 81-607961 AACR2
Rising nearly straight up from the plains, Devils Tower accentuates the differences in the scale of life. The snow-dusted, volcanic sentinel dwarfs the forest at its base.
Smaller still, and requiring our closer look in different seasons, are butterflies, flowers, and, below, pine seedlings.
Devils Tower rises dramatically and abruptly out of the Black Hills above the Belle Fourche River in northeastern Wyoming. These Black Hills are an island in the Great Plains, the heart of the American West. The aura of this West and of its history, folklore, and legend is a fondly nurtured American treasure. Never just The West, it is rather the Scenic West, or the Old West, or the True West, and of course the Wild West. Each epithet suggests that no one can pay homage to the region without resorting to its curious mixture of the known and the unknown, of truth and myth. Here is a land of blue skies, magnificent rock formations, and a clear, dry atmosphere that easily confuses and distorts your sense of distance. It is a land of mountain views, long probing rivers, deserts, and high plains and space—great unfathomable oceans of space. The West is the archetypal outdoors whose recreation possibilities forever grip the modern imagination.