Photo by Gary Stone (www.sharetheexperience.org).
Devils Tower National Monument.
Surveyor James Jacob set up his survey equipment at the beginning of each day.
BLM Wyoming’s John Lee, Chief Cadastral Surveyor, stands next a newly set survey monument on the slope below Devils Tower.
BLM Wyoming Surveys Devils Tower
Story by John Lee, Chief Cadastral Surveyor, Wyoming State Office
BLM Wyoming’s Branch of Cadastral Survey had a unique opportunity last summer. The National Park Service (NPS) was a little unsure of where the legal boundaries were for Devils Tower National Monument, so NPS hired the BLM team to perform a cadastral (boundary) survey of the north, east, south, and west boundaries of the iconic landmark.
Devils Tower was designated a National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in September 1906. This was the first use of the American Antiquities Act passed by Congress in June of that year.
The proclamation states:
“And, whereas, the lofty and isolated rock in the State of Wyoming, known as the “Devils Tower,” situated upon the public lands owned and controlled by the Unites States is such an extraordinary example of the effect of erosion in the higher mountains as to be a natural wonder and an object of historic and great scientific interest and it appears that the public good would be promoted by reserving this tower as a National monument with as much land as may be necessary for the proper protection thereof; …”