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National Parks and Monuments
 Devils Tower

Devils Tower

A Short Reader

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.39

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    proclamation, erosion, unique, sacred, clerical, national, exactly, trapped, underground, lava, erode, error, perform, monument, magma, country
     content words:    Devils* Tower, American Indian, Many Plains, Devils Tower, American Indians

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Devils Tower
By Meg Leonard 		  
1     Devils* Tower is unique. It was the first national monument in our country. This happened in 1906. It is in Wyoming. It is sacred to over twenty American Indian tribes. There are many stories about the tower. One story is that a bear clawed the sides of the tower. This is how the tower got the deep grooves on its sides. Many Plains tribes perform rituals at Devils Tower. Ceremonies are also performed.
 
2     Scientists have questions about Devils Tower. They do not know exactly how it formed. The tower is made of igneous rock. It forms below ground. It is made from melted rock. When it is underground, it is called magma. This is how magma becomes igneous rock. It can get trapped in a pocket underground. It becomes igneous rock as it cools. When melted rock is above ground, it is called lava. When lava cools, it becomes igneous rock. Scientists do not know why there is melted rock at this spot. They do not think it was from a volcano.
 
3     Scientists do know that there were different types of rock around the tower. Erosion wore the other rock away. Devils Tower was left behind. Devils Tower is not hollow. It is like a bunch of pencils that is held together. In millions of years, Devils Tower will erode away, too.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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