Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming.

Gypsy Heart

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Nov 29, 2005
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Years ago a resident of that part northeast Wyoming visited Yankton, South Dakota. While there, he showed a picture of Devils Tower to some elderly Sioux Indians he met. One of them got very excited when he saw the picture.

"Has a passageway been found at the base of the tower?" he asked.

When the resident replied no, the man seemed disappointed. With a little urging, the resident was able to get the Indian to pass on to him the legend about the tower that he had been told. It went something like this:

Many years before three braves had been hunting near the tower. While exploring the rocks at the base of the mountain, they discovered a passageway underneath it. They made torches out of pitch pine knots for light and started exploring the tunnel. They found the passage strewn with bones. Perhaps human bones. At the end, the tunnel opened up into a cave with an underground lake some 25 yards long and more than 15 yards wide. Around the lake were large quantities of gold.


The braves were not prepared to take the gold with them, so they left the tunnel and hid the entrance so that others would not find it. They intended to return to get the gold at a later time, but never did. One of the braves, on his deathbed, told the story to other members of his tribe and the tale had been handed down for several generations before reaching the old Indian.

So is there a cave with gold under Devil's tower? Nobody has ever found one. Also the geology of the mountain, an igneous intrusion, does not seem to make it a promising location to find caves directly under the mountain.
On the other hand, the Black Hills area in which the tower is located, has some of the largest caves in the world underneath it, including Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. The Black Hills area is also known for gold mining that inspired a major gold rush in the 1880's. So maybe, like many legends, there is some truth to the Devil's Tower story. Perhaps the lost cavern is not underneath the tower, but nearby, waiting for someone to find it.
 

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the blindbowman

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Nov 21, 2006
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i have herd of this legend before and it was not a joke or fake ... i herd it was in fact a cave ta the base of the tower ,, my x wife was 3/4 black foot from wym...
 

Tricia

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Mar 5, 2007
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Isn't it a park? National Park?

Suppose MD'ing would be off limits then.

Could always say you're scouting the location for a sequel to "Close Encounters" if you get caught. And when they ask...so what are you doing with a metal detector you say...

"Well, we have digital cameras nowadays, not the old fashioned film kind that the original movie was shot with. These new cameras are very sensitive to geographic anomolies and they throw the focal plane of the composition point out of whack. So I have to check and see if there are any metallic deposits of iron ore around so the cameras won't be affected."

I have no idea what I just said but a good bulls%$&^% might get them to believe it.

That way you don't get in trouble, get to keep your detector, and maybe find something in process. :D
 

godisnum1

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Interesting, indeed... :)

Bran <><
 

E

el_gral

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Looks like a beautiful place to go to, just for the scenery! one question though wasnt gold worthless to the plains indians? Or maybe after contact with the white man they realized how much it was worth to the white people?
 

Las Vegas Bob

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Tricia said:
Isn't it a park? National Park?

Suppose MD'ing would be off limits then.

Yes to both. It is a park and MDing is off limits.

In fact it's about off limits to anything except breathing.

It's typical park stuff. Stay on the trails. Don't pick anything up. Don't stand. Don't sit.

My dog pooped on their grass and the local Gestapo had a hissy fit about it till I picked it up.

I asked the ranger, who seemed to be in charge of dog doo, if I would be in violation of the parks rule against removing what someday might be considered an artifact, by picking up the offending objects.

Needless to say the ranger had the last word.

I guess you can say I found a butt nugget near the base of Devils Tower but no cave or underground lake........
 

DougRecovery

Jr. Member
Mar 21, 2006
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Now it might just be me but im sure i just read a book by clive cussler that had exactly this type of thing in it....yeah it was "Inca Gold" if i remember rightly i guess this is where Mr Cussler got his inspiration from.
 

Nickc83

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Tricia said:
Isn't it a park? National Park?

Suppose MD'ing would be off limits then.

Could always say you're scouting the location for a sequel to "Close Encounters" if you get caught. And when they ask...so what are you doing with a metal detector you say...

"Well, we have digital cameras nowadays, not the old fashioned film kind that the original movie was shot with. These new cameras are very sensitive to geographic anomolies and they throw the focal plane of the composition point out of whack. So I have to check and see if there are any metallic deposits of iron ore around so the cameras won't be affected."

I have no idea what I just said but a good bulls%$&^% might get them to believe it.

That way you don't get in trouble, get to keep your detector, and maybe find something in process. :D

What about an electroscope? anyone tried one yet, read about one that will signal up to two miles away on large targets. Surely that one would indicate if there was a cave full of gold there, then there is the issue of it being a state park. Ninja mission anyone? I'm game let me know.
 

Salvor6

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The electroscope has been proven to be a scam. It won't find anything.
 

Nov 8, 2004
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HI MI lost luv gypsy: Tayopa is composed of Basalt also, but it is sitting on a bed of limestone. As a result, the basal contact has been exposed to rivers etc as the country wore down . This solvent and abrasive action has created long caves in the limestone. The local Indians have the same stories, pools of fresh water with nuggets lying on the ground. Geology can easily explain why this is a distinct possibility.

Incidentally most entrances are small. some day--.

Don Jose de La Mancha
 

Frankn

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It is a beautiful place, but operated in true NP fashion. They even have radar traps on the main entrance road in the park.
 

TheRandyMan

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Frankn said:
It is a beautiful place, but operated in true NP fashion. They even have radar traps on the main entrance road in the park.

God Bless America! Home of the Fee, Land of the Slave! Lol...I bet those rangers have that tower surrounded with laser sensors, pressure plates and plenty of motion cameras. If you are ninja, better brush up on that "fly through the air" thing they do. :laughing7:
 

Random4219

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Jul 25, 2009
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I am in some geology classes right now and the geology you all have decribed brings up some interesting thoughts. Gold deposits are generally associated with areas around igneous processes and hydrothermal processes. Basically you have described Devil's Tower which is one giant igneous outcrop and you have also described a bedrock that is in regular contact either above or below with water. All of this adds up for some of the basic ingredients for the oppurtunity for gold. I don't really know much about gold in Wyoming, but in theory a good test would be to find a river that runs under or by Devil's Tower and the go down stream and see what kind of gold you find. However, if a river wasn't affecting the gold bearing area then it would all still be sitting to be found. Just some thoughts.
 

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