Devils Tower Celebrates 100 Years

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"I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Dammit! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important."
– Richard Dreyfus as Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In 1977, Steven Spielberg introduced the world to a happy alien movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. One of my favorite scenes from the film was when Roy Neary starts building a model of Devils Tower in his living room, pulling up shrubs from his yard and causing is wife to take off wit the kids.

At the time the film was made, Devils Tower was a little known National Park in Wyoming. The movie has made it an icon of popular culture.

This month, Devils Tower celebrates 100 years as part of the National Park System. It was on Sept. 24, 1906, that President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument of the United States.

So, from Friday, Sept. 22, through Sunday, Sept. 24, this year, the park is having a Centennial Celebration. A President Roosevelt enactor will visit the Tower Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Presentations and displays about the natural and cultural resources unique to Devils Tower National Monument will celebrate a "Century of Conservation" on Saturday. And on Sunday, admission to the park is free. A traditional blessing will help open the Commemoration celebration of the historic presidential proclamation.

For more information, visit devilstowercentennial.com/index.htm.