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June 2006

Where the Mountain Lion Lies” was the name the Crow people gave to the massive sandstone outcrop that rises above the plain near the Yellowstone River not far from Billings, Montana. On July 25, 1806, when Capt. William Clark first set eyes on it, he called it “Pomp’s Tower,” after his pet name for his guide Sacagawea’s little boy (“Pomp” translates to “little chief” in his mother’s Shoshone language). Clark promptly climbed to the top, carved his name and the date in the rock, and recorded in his journal that it was “200 feet high and 400 paces in secumphrerance” and that “from its top had a most extensive view in every direction.” The surrounding country contained “emence herds of Buffalow, Elk and wolves.”

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