Qualla: Pompeys Pillar National Monument

Pompeys Pillar National Monument: Introduction

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit blm_mtdks, Public domain. Carved into the sandstone are two words and a date: Wm Clark, July 25, 1806. This simple inscription, protected now by glass, represents the only surviving physical evidence from the entire 8,000-mile Lewis and Clark Expedition. The pillar itself rises 150 feet above the Yellowstone River, a massive sandstone sentinel that has drawn human attention for at least 11,000 years. Clark named it for Sacagawea's infant son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he affectionately called "Pompey."

Image: blm_mtdks | Public domain

Pompeys Pillar National Monument: Deep Time Made Stone

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit blm_mtdks, Public domain. The pillar emerged from the Hell Creek Formation, sandstone deposited during the late Cretaceous period between 75 and 66 million years ago. This makes the rock contemporaneous with the final dinosaurs, and the formation is famous among paleontologists for its wealth of Tyrannosa...

Image: blm_mtdks | Public domain

Pompeys Pillar National Monument: Eleven Millennia of Visitors

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bureau of Land Management, Public domain. Archaeological evidence reveals that humans have gathered at this prominent landmark for over 11,000 years. Native American petroglyphs cover the rock face, testimony to countless generations who recognized this place as significant. The pillar served as a natural meeting point, ...

Image: Bureau of Land Management | Public domain

Pompeys Pillar National Monument: A Name for a Child

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0. Clark originally called the formation "Pompey's Tower," naming it after the toddler who had traveled the entire expedition strapped to his mother's back. Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, nicknamed Pomp, was just two months old when the expedition departed and not yet two years old when...

Image: Chris Light | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pompeys Pillar National Monument: The Interpretive Center

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0. The modern Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center opened in 2006, exactly 200 years after Clark's visit. The 5,700-square-foot facility tells the story of Clark's detachment of the expedition as they traveled down the Yellowstone River valley. Exhibits detail how Clark, Sacagawea, an...

Image: Chris Light | CC BY-SA 4.0