Geographical Thursday

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August 24, 2000

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    This is the Devil's Tower National Monument in Northeastern Wyoming,
about 10 miles south of the small town of Hulett where my Aunt Frieda lives.
    I lived there for a while after high school.

    It looked like the tower was 865 feet high. It probably formed when
molten rock, pushing upward, encountered a hard-rock layer and was forced to
spread into a flat-topped shape. Then many years later became exposed by
erosion.
    (Of course I'm just guessing.)

    And no, skydivers, this is not a good rock to base jump off of. The
sides aren't steep enough. Many years ago some guy tried that and got stuck
up there. He landed on top and was going to try to jump off again. A
climbing team had to be called in to rescue him.

    Can you guess which popular movie from the seventies was filmed around
this strange rock formation?