Bechtel on Country Swing (11c, Spectreman Buttress)

While it is believed that man was present in the southeastern quadrant of Wyoming for 15 to 20,000 years, fluted Clovis points (arrowheads) have been found in the general area of Laramie, indicating continuous, albeit scanty habitation about 11,000 years ago. The presence of man in the region now known as the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (including the Snowy Range, Sherman Mountains, and Vedauwoo) stretches back about 8,000 years, based upon a few small archeological sites with unique stone knives and lanceolate points called “Cody Complexes”. These people were nomadic hunters, very dependent upon wandering large mammals for their existence. As the weather trended towards more temperate conditions about 5,000 years ago, the plains and intermountain regions became more highly populated. This seems to coincide with an upswing in short grass production on the high plains and consequently, influx of massive buffalo herds.

Following widespread tribal migrations during the 1700’s, the major Indian tribes using the general area were the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Sioux, Shoshone and Ute. Territorial claims by these various tribes were often exaggerated, overlapping and never secured by sustained use or warfare. Certainly, up through the late 1800’s, the Medicine Bow region was well known for hunting, raiding and trading and it was generally thought of as Arapaho and Cheyenne territory. There is local belief that the ‘Vedauwoo Rocks’ were held as a sacred area by these Indians who thought that the ‘sacred’ was not abstract and distant, but alive in every facet of nature. The ‘sacred’ could manifest itself through natural forces like thunder, wind, sun and moon, as well as through natural beings like the bear, antelope, and eagle. Vedauwoo may have been a site of “vision quests”, spiritualistic rituals of coming manhood, by young braves of these tribes.

Despite rudimentary evidence indicating Spaniards may have been in the area earlier, French maps indicate trapping activities were occurring during the mid 1700’s. Euro-Americans began encroaching more heavily into the area in the early 1800’s, primarily exploring for western passage through the mountains, and for exploiting natural resources. In 1843, Fremont (the pathfinder), proceeded up the South Platte to the eastern base of the Front Range in Colorado, turning north to Fort Laramie. This route, known as the Overland Trail, was heavily used from about 1860 to 1880. It followed modern Colorado Highway 287 straight north from LaPorte, Colorado to Laramie, bypassing Vedauwoo to the west. While principal trade and migratory routes (like the Overland Trail) skirted Vedauwoo, the railroad did not. The Union Pacific Railroad was the chief catalyst in opening the Medicine Bow region to exploration and settlement in the mid to late 1860’s. Fort Buford, Sherman, Laramie City and other small settlements sprang up as the line advanced westward. Vedauwoo, then known by some as “Skull Rocks”, was completely denuded of forestation by tiehacks, later to be reforested by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s. The Ames Monument, which can be seen on the plains to the south from Vedauwoo, was built to commemorate the highest point on the line. Despite indian attacks, bad weather, engineering problems, and logistical setbacks, the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

The first transcontinental highway was proposed in 1912 by Carl Fisher, President of Prest-O-Lite Corporation, more as a publicity scheme than anything else. His company had just designed ingenious gas headlamps for automobiles. The cause was taken up by Henry Joy, President of Packard Motor Company, who proposed the name “Lincoln Highway”. A road 3500 miles long was carved out from New York to San Francisco and in 1919, Dwight D. Eisenhower, fresh out of West Point, accompanied a makeshift caravan of adventurers on the first trip. Obviously, the road bore no resemblance to the modern freeway, US Interstate 80, we know it as today. In more remote and unsettled sections of the country, it dwindled down to almost nothing but a thread of bare dirt disappearing off into the sagebrush. The road came right through southeastern Wyoming, its highest point being Sherman Hill near Vedauwoo. [ The photo just below shows the highway near the ‘summit’ after considerable improvement over 15 years later. The profile of Vedauwoo is clearly seen in the background. ]

Despite claims to the contrary, we DO KNOW where the name Vedauwoo comes from. It is an anglicized version of the Arapahoe word “biito’o’wu”. The word came about through the interaction of Maybelle Land DeKay, (a Professor of English and Drama at the University of Wyoming in Laramie) and the Arapaho Indians of the time – and it was used as the title of her play performed live at “Vedauwoo Glen” three times between 1924 and 1931. Ms. DeKay felt strongly the Indians had first discovered the true spirit of the landscape and decided to give her play an Indian name. She asked the Episcopal missionary John Roberts (an acquaintance who was living on the Wind River Reservation at the time) for an Indian word meaning ‘earth born’. Roberts and Ms. DeKay thusly derived the word Vedauwoo from biito’o’wu. 

According to Richard Moss, an authority on the Arapaho language, “earth” is the denotative meaning of ‘biito o wu’, although it has the connotation of “earth born” because Arapaho cosmology dictates the earth is the source of all life. Incidentally, some refer to Vedauwoo as meaning “earth born spirit” – which is incorrect according to Moss. Grammatically, this phrase is very different in Arapaho: ‘beniito’wuu betee’ouw ceebii’oot’. Nonetheless, the ‘Land of the Earthborn Spirit’ has been associated with Vedauwoo ever since the 1920’s.

More rather astonishing historical detail about Ms. Dekay’s production is found HERE. There are many hard references to the etymology of the word vedauwoo including past newspaper articles, playbills and books, 2 of which describe it in considerable detail (see for example Chapter 3, ‘The Story of Vedauwoo -1924’, in “History of Dramatics at the University of Wyoming”, M. L. DeKay, self-published, 1936 – now part of the Hebard Collection, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming Archives). Take a look at another such book covering the subject in the MUSEUM. It is also notable that railroad maps of the area relinquished the name Skull Rocks in favor of Vedauwoo Glen thereafter and maps and records of the Civilian Conservation Corps recorded the area as Vedauwoo Glenn in the 1930’s.

By the mid 1930’s, Vedauwoo was becoming a popular place for camping, picnics and other outdoor recreational activities. Even the motion picture industry recognized the nearly alien and unsurpassed beauty of the area and it was utilized as outdoor settings in some spectacular, action packed Westerns such a Cecil B. DeMille’s classic ‘The Plainsman’  which debuted in 1936 (*NOTE: see details in The Vedauwoo Museum).  With the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (during the 1940’s), facilities were upgraded and campsites multiplied. Following World War II, some (ex) members of the 10th Mountain Division registered for school at the University of Wyoming – for higher education and for the climbing available on the rocks at Vedauwoo and in the Snowy Range. The ‘Outing Club’ was formed and members began pioneering assaults on the oddly shaped, yet challenging rock formations at Vedauwoo and the shear rock faces near Medicine Bow Peak. Records were kept starting in 1953 (see the Summit Register in the ‘Museum’), and names like Jerry Edwards, Rick Horn, Ray Jacquot, and Rich Baldwin became historic figureheads. Peter Koedt’s prescient development of the area called Fall Wall was remarkable. The area still exists today as the single most popular climbing area at Vedauwoo. As the number of routes continued to increase, Jim Halfpenny began keeping records of ascents and route topography. Jim’s first climbing guide entitled “Vedauwoo Climbing” (with co-author Jan Mathiesen) was self-published in 1966 and listed 33 climbs. The second Halfpenny guidebook titled “A Climber’s Guide to Southeastern

A Well Used “FRIEND”

An Old, Original SUMMIT REGISTER

An Old CARABINER

FILMING of THE PLAINSMAN

The Little ‘Vedauwoo’ Tree

While not a part of Vedauwoo specifically, it is very close. The contours of Vedauwoo are clearly seen in the background of both photos above. The first, taken in 1927, reads “tree in the rock, famed landmark of Wyoming”. The second was taken 73 years later. This little tree is right on I-80 and seen by nearly everyone who passes by. It seems to grow out of solid rock, Sherman Granite, the same rock that forms the mysterious landforms found throughout Vedauwoo. It was first cited and sketched by Union Pacific Railroad personnel as they laid rails across Sherman Mountain in 1867, and it is said the indians had seen it for at least a century before that. The Lincoln Highway (the first transcontinental highway) was built right past the tree in 1913 and it became a favorite subject of early postcards. Although its age is unknown, limber pines (Pinus Flexilis) like this can live as long as 2,000 years. Today, although twisted and stunted from decades of ceaseless wind and other causes, it continues to survive as a curious historic landmark of Southeastern Wyoming and the Greater Vedauwoo area.