{"id":7659,"date":"2013-05-10T02:22:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T08:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=6639"},"modified":"2013-05-10T02:22:16","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T08:22:16","slug":"naming-tower-fall-np-langford-1870-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tower
Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park as photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1871.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By M. Mark Miller<\/h3>\n

In 1870, the now-famous Washburn Expedition explored the remote area that became Yellowstone National Park. While the explorers always had to be alert for the dangers of Indians, wild animals, and strange geothermal features, they also found ways to have fun.\u00a0Here\u2019s Nathaniel P. Langford\u2019s description of \u00a0one of the pranks they played on each other.<\/p>\n

\"tower-fall-vert\"
Tower Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the outset of our journey we had agreed that we would not give to any object of interest that we might discover the name of any of our party nor of our friends. This rule was to be religiously observed.<\/p>\n

While in camp on Sunday, August 28th, on the bank of this creek, it was suggested that we select a name for the creek and fall. Walter Trumbull suggested \u201cMinaret Creek\u201d and \u201cMinaret Fall.\u201d Mr. Hauser suggested \u201cTower Creek\u201d and \u201cTower Fall.\u201d After some discussion a vote was taken, and by a small majority, the name \u201cMinaret\u201d was decided upon.<\/p>\n

During the following evening Mr. Hauser stated with great seriousness that we had violated the agreement made relative to naming objects for our friends. He said that the well known Southern family\u2014the Rhetts\u2014lived in St. Louis, and that they had a most charming and accomplished daughter named \u201cMinnie.\u201d He said that this daughter was a sweetheart of Trumbull, who had proposed the name, her name, \u201cMinnie Rhett\u201d \u2014 and that we had unwittingly given to the fall and creek the name of this sweetheart of Mr. Trumbull.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Trumbull indignantly denied the truth of Hauser\u2019s statement, and Hauser as determinedly insisted that it was the truth. The vote was therefore reconsidered, and by a substantial majority it was decided to substitute the name \u201cTower\u201d for \u201cMinaret.\u201d Later, and when it was too late to recall or reverse the action of our party, it was surmised that Hauser himself had a sweetheart in St. Louis \u2014 a Miss Tower.<\/p>\n

Read more tales of early travel in Yellowstone like this excerpt from\u00a0N. P. Langford’s\u00a0The Discovery of Yellowstone Park<\/em>, in M. Mark\u00a0Miller\u2019s\u00a0Adventures in Yellowstone: Early Travelers Tell Their Tales<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Historian and writer M. Mark Miller recounts how a suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[447,975,10],"tags":[147,983,984,504],"yoast_head":"\nThe story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"M. Mark Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"M. Mark Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"M. Mark Miller\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6277d35fc7c561dd1090bf5ce76c138\"},\"headline\":\"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"history\",\"tower falls\",\"waterfalls\",\"yellowstone history\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Just for Fun\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\",\"name\":\"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif\",\"width\":370,\"height\":90},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\",\"name\":\"Yellowstone Gate\",\"description\":\"Yellowstone and Grand Teton community news & inside views\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Yellowstone Gate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png\",\"width\":764,\"height\":152,\"caption\":\"Yellowstone Gate\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6277d35fc7c561dd1090bf5ce76c138\",\"name\":\"M. Mark Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd90c998723982878e13de0f1585b425?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd90c998723982878e13de0f1585b425?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"M. Mark Miller\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/mmarkmiller.wordpress.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?author=36\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate","description":"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate","og_description":"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659","og_site_name":"Yellowstone Gate","article_published_time":"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":370,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","type":"image\/gif"}],"author":"M. Mark Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"M. Mark Miller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659"},"author":{"name":"M. Mark Miller","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6277d35fc7c561dd1090bf5ce76c138"},"headline":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone","datePublished":"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","keywords":["history","tower falls","waterfalls","yellowstone history"],"articleSection":["History","Just for Fun","People"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659","name":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone - Yellowstone Gate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","datePublished":"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T08:22:16+00:00","description":"A suspicion about a tribute to a girlfriend lies at the heart of the story behind how Tower Falls in Yellowstone National Park was named.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","width":370,"height":90},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=7659#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The story behind the 1870 naming of Tower Falls in Yellowstone"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/","name":"Yellowstone Gate","description":"Yellowstone and Grand Teton community news & inside views","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#organization","name":"Yellowstone Gate","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/yellowstone-gate-logo-horiz.png","width":764,"height":152,"caption":"Yellowstone Gate"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d6277d35fc7c561dd1090bf5ce76c138","name":"M. Mark Miller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd90c998723982878e13de0f1585b425?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd90c998723982878e13de0f1585b425?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"M. Mark Miller"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/mmarkmiller.wordpress.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?author=36"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/house-ad-largo02.gif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}