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Glimpses of our National Monuments

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  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10672.jpg
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  • OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS 17 water has been found to have a temperature of 34° F. while the air temperature was 87°. Water is also found in the lava tunnels, where it has percolated downward through the lava cracks. In these tunnels the water collects in pools, and in some places ice is found. The nearest railroad point to the Craters of the Moon National Monument is Arco, 12 miles away, which is reached by a 45-mile ride from Blackfoot over the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Comfortable accommodations are available at Arco. As the entrance to the monument is only half a mile from the Idaho Central Highway, which connects Boise and all western points with Yellowstone National Park, motorists visiting the Yellowstone can easily take in the Craters of the Moon at the same time. S. A. Paisley, of Arco, is custodian of the monument. DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT The Devils Tower, an extraordinary mass of igneous rock, is one of the most conspicuous features in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. The tower rises 600 feet above a rounded ridge of sedimentary rocks, which itself rises 600 feet above the Belle Fourche River. Its sides are fluted by great columns which stand nearly perpendicular except near the top where they round in, and near the base where they flare out. The base emerges into a talus of broken columns lying on a platform of buff sandstone. The whole presents a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. The great columns composing the tower are mostly pentagonal in shape but some are four or six sided. Each column is about 6 feet in diameter, and the whole bunched together like a bundle of matches. In places several columns unite in their upper portion to form a large fluted column. In the lower quarter or third of the tower the columns bend outward and merge rapidly into massive rock which toward the base shows little trace of columnar structure. This structure is due to jointing that develops in igneous rocks as they cool. The diameter at the base of the tower is about 1,700 feet. The Devils Tower was useful to the aborigines as a landmark from which to direct-their courses across the plains. The Indian legend of its origin has it that one day three Sioux maidens while out gathering wild flowers were beset with three bears. The maidens took refuge upon a large rock, which the bears were also able to climb because they had long, sharp claws. The gods seeing the maidens about to be devoured caused the rock to grow up out of the ground. As the rock grew the maidens climbed, but the bears followed. At last, becoming exhausted, the bears could climb
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