Tower Fall is a
waterfall
A waterfall is a 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 severa ...
on Tower Creek in the northeastern region of
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...
, 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 sove ...
of
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
. 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 upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...
, the fall plunges 132 feet (40 m). Its name comes from the
rock pinnacle
A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire.
Examples ar ...
s 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
The Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition of 1869 was the first organized expedition to explore the region that became Yellowstone National Park. The privately financed expedition was carried out by David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook and William Pete ...
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 the ...
).
In August 1870, the
Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition camped near and explored the Tower Fall area for several days en route to
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is above sea level and covers with of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is , its greatest depth is at least . Yellowstone Lake is the largest fre ...
. 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
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
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 in 1872.
Images of Tower Fall
File:TowerFallMoore-1870.jpg, Sketch of Tower Fall by Private Charles Moore, 1870
File:TowerFallsLangford1871.JPG, Illustration, 1871Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
, 1871
File:TowerFallsMoran1875.jpg, Tower Fall and Sulphur Mountain, Thomas Moran, 1875
File:TowerFallsHaynes1894.JPG, Tower Fall, 1894 by Frank Jay Haynes
Frank Jay Haynes (October 28, 1853 – March 10, 1921), known as F. Jay or the ''Professor'' to almost all who knew him, was a professional photographer, publisher, and entrepreneur from Minnesota who played a major role in documenting through pho ...
File:Tower Fall in Yellowstone.JPG, Tower Fall, 2003
File:Thomas Moran Tower Falls at Yellowstone.JPG, Tower Falls of Yellowstone Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
See also
*
Waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park contains at least 45 named waterfalls and cascades, and hundreds more unnamed, even undiscovered waterfalls over high. The highest plunge type waterfall in the park is the lower Falls of Yellowstone Falls at . The h ...
Notes
{{Authority control
Landforms of Park County, Wyoming
Waterfalls of Yellowstone National Park
Waterfalls of Wyoming
Plunge waterfalls