Tower Fall is a
waterfall
A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge
of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...
on Tower Creek in the northeastern region of
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...
, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. Approximately upstream from the creek's confluence with the
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountain ...
, the fall plunges 132 feet (40 m). Its name comes from the
rock pinnacles at the top of the fall. Tower Creek and Tower Fall are located approximately three miles south of Roosevelt Junction on the Tower-Canyon road.
History
On September 15–16, 1869, members of the
Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition spent a whole day in the Tower Fall area before crossing the river and traveling up the East Fork of the Yellowstone (
Lamar River
The Lamar River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long, in northwestern Wyoming in the United States. The river is located entirely within Yellowstone National Park.
History
Prior to the 1884–85 Geological Survey of th ...
).
In August 1870, the
Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition camped near and explored the Tower Fall area for several days en route to
Yellowstone Lake. In his 1871 report to Secretary of War
Gustavus C. Doane, a member of the expedition described Tower Falls thus:
The fall was named by Samuel Hauser, a member of the Washburn party. Hauser made this notation in his diary on August 27, 1870:
The fall was renamed Tower Fall (singular) by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1928.
A well-known painting by
Thomas Moran in 1871 helped persuade
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
to set aside Yellowstone as the world's first
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
in 1872.
Images of Tower Fall
File:TowerFallMoore-1870.jpg, Sketch of Tower Fall by Private Charles Moore, 1870
File:TowerFallsLangford1871.JPG, Illustration, 1871
Climate
See also
*
List of waterfalls
This list of notable waterfalls of the world is sorted by continent, then country, then province, state or territory. A waterfall is included if it is at least tall and has an existing Wikipedia article, or it is considered historically sig ...
*
Waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park
Notes
{{Authority control
Landforms of Park County, Wyoming
Waterfalls of Yellowstone National Park
Waterfalls of Wyoming
Plunge waterfalls