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Monumeflts
Celebrating a century of treasured landmarks
You find them in both major
metropolitan areas and some of the most remote
corners of the country. They protect canyons and
craters, redwood forests and vast deserts. They
commemorate natural disasters and mankind's
accomplishments. They're national monuments,
diverse parcels of land all across the country that
preserve both pristine lands and the ruins of
ancient civilizations.
From the heights of Mount St. Helens in Wash
ington state to the underwater splendor of Buck
Island Reef in the Virgin Islands, from
Effigy Mounds in rural Allamakee
County, lowa, where prehistoric Amer- j
ican Indians built ceremonial earthen
mounds in the shape of bears and birds,
to Pompeys Pillar near Billings, Mont.,
where explorer William Clark carved his
name in the sandstone mesa in 1806,
these sanctuaries represent a wealth of
American treasures.
The precedent for such land acquisi
tion came with the Antiquities Act of
1906, when Congress entrusted the presi
dent with discretionary power “to declare
by public proclamation historic land
marks, historic and prehistoric structures,
and other objects of historic or scientific
interest” as national monuments.
President Theodore Roosevelt, an
avid conservationist, lost no time in
exercising his new authority. On Sept.
24, 1906, he set aside the majestic
monolith Devils Tower in Crook
County, Wyo., as the nation’s
first national monument.
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Devils Tower was the first national monument, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt on Sept. 24, 1906.
Antiquities Act centennial
Now as the nation celebrates 100 years of the
Antiquities Act, scores of national monuments are
found in 28 states and encompass some 240,000
square miles, roughly the size of the states of Colo
rado and Montana.
They range in size from African Burial Ground
National Monument, a 15,000-square-foot site in
New York City where enslaved and free Africans
were interred between the 1690 s and 17905, to the
vast 140,000-square-mile Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands National Monument, the newest and larg
est marine sanctuary in the world.
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Among the most popular national monu
ments is the Statue of Liberty, where more
than 5 million visitors arrive annually by ferry
to meet the Lady of the Harbor. A gift from
France dedicated in 1886, the statue
/ was designated a national monument by
President Coolidge in 1924.
| With its urban setting, Lady Liberty
f couldn't be more antithetical to Scotts Bluff
National Monument, situated on a lonely
prairie in western Nebraska, where a tower
ing 800-foot buttress known to the Plains
Indians as Ma-a-pa-te, or “hill that is hard to
go around,” dominates the horizon. More than
150 years ago, it was a landmark to westward
bound travelers on the Oregon Trail. Today,
visitors to the 3,000-acre spread are rewarded
► with the same spectacular views of the
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Great Plains as witnessed generations ago, as well
as a visitor's center that explores American Indian
and pioneer life and the geology of the land.
St. Augustine, Fla., long has billed itself as
"the oldest city in America.” The city’s most con
spicuous testament to that claim is Castillo de
San Marcos National Monument, a stone fortress
completed in 1695 by the Spanish empire. A
favorite of tourists, the fortification draws more
than a million visitors a year, while only 14 miles
south of St. Augustine stands a lesser-known rem
nant of Spanish dominion. The centerpiece of Fort
Matanzas National Monument, accessible by a free
ferry, was built between 1740 and 1742 and marks
Spain's last effort to ward off Britain’s advances
from the north.
Built as a Spanish fortress, Castillo de San Marcos
today is a national monument in St. Augustine, Fla.
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American Profile