[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7351-7353]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2101]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 14 / Monday, January 22, 2001 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 7351]]
Proclamation 7396 of January 17, 2001
Establishment of the Pompeys Pillar National
Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Pompeys Pillar National Monument is a massive sandstone
outcrop that rises from an almost two-acre base on the
banks of the Yellowstone River 150 feet toward
Montana's Big Sky, east of Billings. The monument's
premier location at a natural ford in the Yellowstone
River, and its geologic distinction as the only major
sandstone formation in the area, have made Pompeys
Pillar a celebrated landmark and outstanding
observation point for more than eleven thousand years
of human occupation. Hundreds of markings, petroglyphs,
and inscriptions left by visitors have transformed this
geologic phenomenon into a living journal of the
American West.
The monument's most notable visitor, Captain William
Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, arrived at
Pompeys Pillar on July 25, 1806, on his return trip
from the Pacific coast. Clark's journal recorded his
stop at this ``remarkable rock'' with its ``extensive
view in every direction.'' He described an idyllic
landscape of grassy plains, snow-capped mountains, and
cliffs abutting the wandering river. Clark marked his
presence by engraving his name and the date of his
visit on the outcrop. This simple inscription is the
only remaining physical evidence of Lewis and Clark's
epic journey. In his journal, Clark named the rock
Pompy's Tower, Pompy being Clark's nickname for
Sacagawea's young son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who
was born at the expedition's winter camp at Fort Mandan
on February 11, 1805. The name was changed to Pompeys
Pillar by author Nicholas Biddle when his account of
the Expedition was published in 1814.
Ethnographic and archaeological evidence indicates that
the Pillar was a place of ritual and religious
activity. Hundreds of petroglyphs on the face of the
rock, noted by Clark in his journal, reflect the
importance of the monument to early peoples. The Crow
people, the dominant residents of the region when Clark
passed through, call the pillar the ``Mountain Lions
Lodge'' in their language, and it figures prominently
in Crow oral history. Pompeys Pillar also includes the
markings and signature of a host of characters from the
pioneer past, including fur trappers, Yellowstone River
steamboat men, frontier army troops, railroad workers,
missionaries, and early settlers. In 1873, Lieutenant
Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his men camped at
its base, where they came under attack from Sioux
snipers.
Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16
U.S.C. 431), authorizes the President, in his
discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic
landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and
other objects of historic or scientific interest that
are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the
Government of the United States to be national
monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of
land, the limits of which in all cases shall be
confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
WHEREAS it appears that it would be in the public
interest to reserve such lands as a national monument
to be known as the Pompeys Pillar National Monument:
[[Page 7352]]
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225,
16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there are hereby set
apart and reserved as the Pompeys Pillar National
Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects
identified above, all lands and interests in lands
owned or controlled by the United States within the
boundaries of the area described on the map entitled
``Pompeys Pillar National Monument'' attached to and
forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal land
and interests in land reserved consist of approximately
51 acres, which is the smallest area compatible with
the proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the
boundaries of this monument are hereby appropriated and
withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection,
sale, or leasing or other disposition under the public
land laws, including but not limited to withdrawal from
location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and
from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and
geothermal leasing.
Lands and interests in lands within the proposed
monument not owned by the United States shall be
reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of
title thereto by the United States.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument
through the Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to
applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes
of this proclamation.
The establishment of this monument is subject to any
valid existing rights, including the mineral estate
held by the United States in trust for the Crow Tribe.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge
or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of Montana
with respect to fish and wildlife management.
This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of
Federal law. Nothing in this reservation shall be
construed as a relinquishment or reduction of any water
use or rights reserved or appropriated by the United
States on or before the date of this proclamation. The
Secretary shall work with appropriate State authorities
to ensure that any water resources needed for monument
purposes are available.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke
any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation;
however,the national monument shall be the dominant
reservation. Warning is hereby given to all
unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure,
destroy, or remove any feature of this monument and not
to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand one, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3195-01-P
[[Page 7353]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD22JA01.182
[FR Doc. 01-2101 Filed 1-19-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C