{"id":10266,"date":"2025-01-10T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T18:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=10266"},"modified":"2025-01-10T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T18:50:11","slug":"bill-to-ban-renaming-devils-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/bill-to-ban-renaming-devils-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill To Ban Renaming Devils Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are they protecting one of God’s creations from losing accreditation to their master? This is a detestable name for such a beautiful place, and Bear Lodge<\/a> Butte would be much preferable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2025\/01\/09\/lummis-barrasso-resurrect-bill-to-ban-renaming-devils-tower<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis resurrected a bill this week to ban efforts to rename Devils Tower. They continue a 30-year tradition of Wyoming\u2019s delegation introducing legislation to protect the national monument\u2019s name.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Leo Wolfson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Devils
Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming. (Photo by William Cunningham via Alamy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Continuing a 30-year tradition of Wyoming\u2019s congressional delegation, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis filed a bill this week seeking to protect the name of the iconic Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If passed into law,\u00a0the bill<\/u><\/a>\u00a0would officially designate that the national monument has to be called Devils Tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As America’s first national monument, Devils Tower is an iconic landmark cherished by people in Wyoming and a famous stop for people visiting our great state,” Barrasso said in a Tuesday announcement. “It is important we protect the legacy of this symbolic monument for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since at least 2005, there has been a movement of certain Native American groups that want to change the name of the geological formation to \u201cBear Lodge,\u201d as they believe the use of the word \u201cDevils\u201d is offensive. In 2014, more than 20 tribes with close association to the tower filed an application with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to have its name changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s ironic is that by simply filing a bill to protect the name, it prevents the board from renaming the rock structure. Since the bill is under consideration by Congress, the board cannot make its own decision on the issue. As a result, whether the bill becomes law or not, the name cannot be changed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, runs a KOA campground at the base of Devils Tower and firmly opposes a name change, calling efforts to do so \u201cinfuriating.\u201d His family has homesteaded there since the 1870s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about Barrasso and Lummis bringing back this bill, Driskill said, \u201cWe love it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Change It?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to research conducted by the National Park Service, the names “Bear Lodge,” “Bears Lodge” and “Mato Teepee” were ascribed to the Tower on most maps between 1874 and 1901. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1875, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dodge traveled through the Devils Tower area and wrote in his journal, “The Indians call this shaft ‘The Bad God’s Tower,’ a name adopted, with proper modifications, by our surveyors.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dodge had a positive relationship with local tribes, who guided him through the Devils Tower area. In 1882, he wrote a book called \u201cOur Wild Indians: Thirty-Three Years’ Personal Experience among the Red Men of the Great West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tower was officially named Devils Tower in 1906.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although some believe \u201cBad God\u201d was a poor translation of \u201cBear Lodge,\u201d Driskill disagrees, pointing out that Dodge said local Native Americans were afraid to go anywhere in the valley below the tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey can call it what they want but I think the story needs to be told on an honest basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driskill himself said he has a friendly relationship with a number of tribes and respects their history, given an honorary name at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last June, the federal Reconciliation in Place Names Committee, a subcommittee of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, recommended<\/u><\/a> that Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland submit a request to President Joe Biden\u2019s administration to change the name to Bear Lodge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s mostly a moot point now that Biden is about to leave office and he would have to use the Antiquities Act to rename Devils Tower, a sweeping presidential authority that isn\u2019t allowed in Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the first national landmark, Devils Tower holds great significance to generations of people across Wyoming and is one of the Cowboy State\u2019s most cherished sights,\u201d Lummis said in the announcement. <\/strong>\u201cI am partnering with Senator Barrasso to ensure we preserve this legacy and prevent D.C. bureaucrats and out-of-state interest groups from unnecessarily changing the name of this iconic and celebrated landmark.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are they protecting one of God’s creations from losing accreditation to their master? This is a detestable name for such a beautiful place, and Bear Lodge Butte would be much preferable. https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2025\/01\/09\/lummis-barrasso-resurrect-bill-to-ban-renaming-devils-tower U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis resurrected a bill this week to ban efforts to rename Devils Tower. They continue a 30-year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10267,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions\/10267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}