Devil's Tower rises above the surrounding grassland and Pondarosa pine forests like a rocky sentinel. Northern Plains tribes worshipped this remarkable geologic formation long before whites wandered into the West.
About 60 million years ago molten magma forced its way it overlying sedimentary rocks and cooled underground. The cooling igneous rock contracted, fracturing into columns. Over millions on years the sedimentary rock eroded to expose the Devil's Tower. The tower rises 867 ft. from its base, 1,267 ft. above the river and 5,112 feet above sea level.
It was the first national monument dedicated under the Antiquities Act. It was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The first building there were built by workers of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.)