115 STAT. 2576 PROCLAMATION 7396—JAN. 17, 2001 Proclamation 7396 of January 17, 2001 Establishment of the Pompeys Pillar National Monument By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Pompeys Pillar National Monument is a massive sandstone outcrop that rises from an almost two-acre base on the banks of the Yellowstone River 150 feet toward Montana's Big Sky, east of Billings. The monument's premier location at a natural ford in the Yellowstone River, and its geologic distinction as the only major sandstone formation in the area, have made Pompeys Pillar a celebrated landmark and outstanding observation point for more than eleven thousand years of human occupation. Hundreds of markings, petroglyphs, and inscriptions left by visitors have transformed this geologic phenomenon into a living journal of the American West. The monument's most notable visitor. Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, arrived at Pompeys Pillar on July 25, 1806, on his return trip from the Pacific coast. Clark's journal recorded his stop at this "remarkable rock" with its "extensive view in every direction." He described an idyllic landscape of grassy plains, snowcapped mountains, and cliffs abutting the wandering river. Clark marked his presence by engraving his name and the date of his visit on the outcrop. This simple inscription is the only remaining physical evidence of Lewis and Clark's epic journey. In his journal, Clark named the rock Pompy's Tower, Pompy being Clark's nickname for Sacagawea's young son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who was born at the expedition's winter camp at Fort Mandan on February 11, 1805. The name was changed to Pompeys Pillar by author Nicholas Biddle when his account of the Expedition was published in 1814. Ethnographic and archaeological evidence indicates that the Pillar was a place of ritual and religious activity. Hundreds of petroglyphs on the face of the rock, noted by Clark in his journal, reflect the importance of the monument to early peoples. The Crow people, the dominant residents of the region when Clark passed through, call the pillar the "Mountain Lions Lodge" in their language, and it figures prominently in Crow oral history. Pompeys Pillar also includes the markings and signature of a host of characters from the pioneer past, including fur trappers, Yellowstone River steamboat men, frontier army troops, railroad workers, missionaries, and early settlers. In 1873, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his men camped at its base, where they came under attack from Sioux snipers. Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
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