B82 USUGHIBIL (Cy LO SSIBIESL 
The platform surrounding the base of Mato Teepee as seen 
in Fig. A, Plate III., is not a remnant of a coulee of lava or the 
remains of an ancient cinder cone, as might be supposed from a 
distant view, but is composed of sandstones and shales belong- 
ing to the Red Beds and the Jurassic formations. The stratifi- 
cation of these beds, even up to the base of the tower, is hori- 
zontal and undisturbed. Some change in texture, however, may 
be observed in the strata in the immediate vicinity of the 
intruded rocks, showing that they were hardened and somewhat 
metamorphosed when the igneous material was forced in among 
them. 
When Mato Teepee is seen from almost any locality in the 
valley of the Belle Fourche within a radius of several miles, one 
is not only forcibly impressed by the grandeur of the monu- 
mental form that dominates the landscape, but is delighted by 
the brilliant and varied colors of the rocks forming the sides of 
the valley and the immediate base of the tower. The Red Beds 
in the lower portion of the river bluffs show many variations of 
pink and Indian red, and have been sculptured into architectural 
forms of great beauty. The less brilliant Jurassic sandstones 
resting upon them and forming the upper portions of the bluffs, 
serve to carry the eye from the rich colors below to the dark 
forest of pines that grow above and to the still more somber 
precipices of the great tower which always appears in bold relief 
against the sky. 
The platform on which Mato Teepee stands is 500 feet above 
the river, while the tower proper rises almost vertically 626 feet 
above it. The tower is nearly rectangular in cross section; the 
width at the summit from north to south, being 376 feet, and the 
width at the base 796 -feet.t The shaft of the column is com- 
posed of clustered prisms which extend from base to summit 
without cross divisions. These prisms are usually pentagonal, 
although other forms are not uncommon. Most frequently they 
have a diameter of from eight to ten feet. Each prism tapers 
somewhat toward the top, and near its upper extremity is cracked 
t Geology of the Black Hills, p. 201. 
