Meaning behind Devils Tower's name

[mitraveler]

Spooky, huh? Not very many places have a name that's more evocative than Devils Tower. The remains of a long-gone volcano rise more than 1,200 feet over the Belle Fourche River. The monument gained its name thanks to a misunderstanding. A translator mistranslated the native name to "Bad God's Tower" in 1875 when Colonel Richard Dodge was exploring the area. It was later changed to Devil's Tower, and somewhere along the way, the apostrophe was dropped for Devils Tower.

[wanderer]

That makes perfect sense actually. It is rather mysterious; I'm sure the explorers didn't expect to find anything like it when they were trekking west.

[stillbslling]

as far as I knew native american tribes called Devils Tower “Bear Lodge”, whereas the name Devil's Tower came about during an expedition led by Richard Irving Dodge when his interpreter misinterpreted the name to mean Bad God's Tower.

Another interesting fact about the Devil's Tower is they wanted to rename it Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark in 2005 in honor of the native tribes, but naturally this was met with opposition and the proposition never meant ahead.

[wanderer]

That doesn't surprise me; people get used to the name, even if they don't know the story behind it. I think the tower looks otherworldly, so it is a good name!