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In the 1832, Captain Benjamin Bonneville called Chimney Rock "a singular phenomenon, which is among the curiosities of the country." While wind and weather quickly wore away the names of Oregon Trail travelers written on Chimney Rock, many journals portray it as an important landmark in their travels. |
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Wind and weather were not the only enemy of Chimney Rock. The military camped at the fort near Chimney Rock would use the landmark for target practice. In 1935, a young boy found this shell 1/4 of a mile NE of the rock. Another young boy said he found a casing for a shell about a year earlier on the east side of the rock. The two pieces matched perfectly, given evidence to the target practice theory. |
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Two men were cleaning the area in preparation for Memorial Day in 1976 and decided to climb the rock. They had climbed up a ways, when a piece of rock tumbled in to the gully. They looked at in and noticed it was different than the rocks on the ground. That was when they discovered it was a part of the rock. |
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Chimney Rock as it now appears in 2001. Lightning has struck the point of it several times which has also contributed to the shortening of the point.
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