The Story
On September 24, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt used the new Antiquities Act to proclaim Devils Tower the first national monument in the United States. Long before that, the formation held deep spiritual significance for more than 20 Plains tribes, who know it by names including Mató Thípila (Bear Lodge). On July 4, 1893, ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley made the first recorded ascent using a 350-foot ladder of oak stakes driven into a crack; two years later Rogers' wife Linnie became the first woman to climb it. Its fame exploded when "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) made it the alien-contact site.
Surprising Facts
→ It was the first national monument ever designated in the U.S., under the 1906 Antiquities Act.
→ Its 1893 first ascent used a homemade wooden ladder — remnants are still visible on the tower today.
→ More than 20 tribes hold it sacred; the Park Service requests a voluntary climbing closure each June.