Devils Tower, more properly known as Bear Lodge Butte, is an igneous butte located in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming. Its more common name is an improper translation of one of its indigenous names, first applied by American colonel Richard Irving Dodge in 1875. In recent decades there has been a push to use the butte’s correct name, which has been strongly opposed by the Republican Party. The butte is a sacred area to several Indigenous American peoples and is associated with legends about bears, many of which involve the butte providing respite from bear attacks. It was also the first national monument of the United States of America.
