Nebraskaland

July 2019 • Nebraskaland 35 seemed 10 times farther than that over the rugged terrain – to the chasm featured in the photograph. After all the ups and downs, the elevation at the ridge above the chasm peaks at 4,900 feet, about 450 feet higher than our starting point. After making our way down the steep grade and entering the mouth of the crevice, we became awestruck with each step. Our spring visit came 38,315 days after Shoemaker, Wolcott and their guide, Sioux County rancher Noel Priddy, visited the site in late June. Wayne was right – it's a place a Nebraskaland photographer should see. Despite that lengthy span of time, the canyon looked similar to the black and white photo from more than a century ago. Yes, the fl oor had surely risen a little with eroded sediment from soil and sandstone above, but the canyon retained the same charm. Some fraction of the sediment was surely produced from dozens of carvings along the wall that mark decades of visitors to the remote canyon. The lush vegetation at the mouth of the chasm gradually gave way to a more barren scene with few signs of plants or animals – except mountain lion tracks that certainly caught our attention. Shoemaker's journal noted nesting sites of Krider's hawk (a morph of the red-tailed hawk) and great horned owl in the canyon, but we noticed no such activity. A large rotting log propped on the wall along one of the most narrow parts of the canyon begs wondering how it fell and how long it has been there. After Wayne surmised the exact spot Shoemaker's photo was taken, we attempted to restage the scene with him and Janece posing as models. A stubborn shaft of sunlight made its way straight to the bottom of the canyon at the photo site, however, almost as curiously as that rotting log did years before. It created too much of a contrast to overcome by fl ash. Instead of waiting for the sun to become more agreeable to our eff orts, we decided to hike back to the vehicles and perhaps return another day. Our second eff ort in May 2018, when the Mollhoff s were visiting the area for the annual meeting of the Nebraska Ornithologists Union, proved more successful. With sunlight cooperating, we did our best to match the focal length, composition and poses in the original photo. The 1911 research party surely would have enjoyed using the Nikon DSLR cameras with the wide range of zoom lenses I was carrying, but nonetheless seemed impressed by the capabilities of its 5x7 long focus box with a Goerz double- anastigmat lens and folding "pocket" Kodak they brought to the region. Shoemaker's classic photo gained publicity in 2017 when a series of paintings with scenes from each county was released by artist Todd A. Williams. To represent Sioux County, Williams, too, recreated the photo. Other than that, I have not noticed much mention of Devil's Den. It is not noted on any maps, and I have found only one mention of it in our Nebraskaland archives. A July 1966 story by Richard Williams of Crawford told the tale of how he and another high school student rappelled to the bottom of the crevice at one of its most sheer points, much to the chagrin of the local game warden. Fortunately, the adventure ended without incident because Richard Williams later became the fi rst American Indian student to earn a degree from the University of Nebraska. Now retired as president and chief executive offi cer of the American Indian College Fund, he has received a long list of commendations for his work promoting civil rights for Native Americans. Perhaps someday Devil's Den will become a popular tourist destination. Similar to many remote, pristine sites in the Pine Ridge, area residents scoff at journalists who provide detailed locations for fear it will be loved to death by too mu ch visitation. Still today, Devil's Den is not marked by any signs and is hard to pinpoint on satellite imagery because of its narrow outline from above. Regardless, go for a hike and enjoy this spectacular country. You will know Devil's Den if you see it. As Shoemaker wrote, it is in a class by itself. N When Todd A. Williams produced an oil painting for each Nebraska county to commemorate the sesquicentennial, he chose the scene at Devil's Den to represent Sioux County.

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