August 2018 - Sneak Peek

Die proof. Copyright The United States Postal Service,
courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, National Postal
Museum.
sary Devils Tower National Monument” is spread over three
lines in dark-faced Roman with “50th” in a larger size which
distorts the arrangement of the text. The denomination “3¢”
is in white-faced Gothic.
According to the editors of the Scott catalogs, the color
chosen for the stamp was violet, while the Post Office Department
listed it as purple. In any case, the color is far too
subdued, if not insipid, and fails to capture the contrast between
the outer rock face and the columnar structure that is
a highlight of the tower.
Because the stamp was printed on a Huck press, one
would normally have expected a more crisp and vivid effect
in keeping with the grandeur of the subject. For some reason
this did not occur.
The Subject
In geological terms Devils Tower itself is an impressive
laccolithic formation or sheet intrusion in the shape of a
somewhat tapered column, described by some as a gigantic
stump-like structure. It is composed of igneous rock (solidified
lava or magma) and rises 1,267 feet (386 meters) above
the Belle Fourche River in the Bear Lodge Mountains near
Hulett and Sundance in northeastern Wyoming. Its summit
is 5,112 feet (1,559 meters) above sea level.
The top of the tower consists of an acre of relatively
flat and stony land, covered in part with grasses
of various descriptions and Wyoming big sagebrush.
The surrounding slopes leading up to the tower are
partially enveloped by stands of ponderosa pine,
which at the base of the tower merger into grassland.
The area is home to a host of mammals including
relatively large numbers of the desert cottontail, the
least chipmunk, the black-tailed prairie dog, the red
squirrel, the prairie vole, the porcupine, the raccoon,
the striped skunk and the white tailed deer. Commonly
found birds include Southwestern turkeys,
bald eagles, American kestrels, prairie falcons, peregrine
falcons and turkey vultures. A frequently
found reptile is the prairie rattlesnake.
Geologists in the 19th century who studied
Devils Tower came to the conclusion that it was
formed by what they called an igneous intrusion,
that is, a formation in which molten rock (magma)
was trapped beneath the surface of the Earth and
pushed the rock located above it into a dome-like
shape). However, to this day there is no agreement
about how that process took place. Some describe
the tower as an eroded remnant of a large mass of
igneous rock that intruded through sedimentary
rock beds. Other theories have suggested that Devils
Tower is a volcanic plug or even the neck of an
extinct volcano.
What we do know is that the tower is about 40.5
million years old, and that as the magma cooled,
hexagonal columns formed. Over time, the vertical
columns shrank horizontally, and cracks began to
occur at 120-degree angles, generally forming the
compact six-sided columns that are a hallmark of the monument.
The elements’ continual erosion of the sedimentary rocks
surrounding the base has exposed more of Devils Tower and
has also affected its exposed portions. In particular, rocks
along the columns are subject to water and ice erosion. Portions,
or even entire columns, of rock are continually breaking
off and falling. The presence of piles of broken columns,
boulders, small rocks and stones (scree) that have accumulated
at the base of the tower indicate that it was once wider
than it is today.
Looking at the monument in historical terms, Native
Americans groups, including the Arapaho, Crow, Cheyenne,
Kiowa, Lakota and Shoshone, knew the monolith. Each group
gave it a name and created a myth. The Arapaho called it the
“Bear’s Tipi.” The Crow called it Daxpitcheeaasáao or “Bear’s
House.” The Cheyenne gave it a variety of names: “Bear’s
Lair,” “Bear’s House,” “Bear’s Lodge” and “Bear’s Tipi.” The Kiowa
called it “Aloft on a Rock” or “Tree Rock” and the Lakota
knew it as Matho Thipila (“Bear’s Lodge Butte”), Mateo Tepee
(“Grizzly Bear Lodge”), “Mythic-owl Mountain,” “Grey Horn
770 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / AUGUST 2018