His name was George Hopkins. It is a name that everyone Wyoming resident should have memorized. That is because it was this daredevil that  parachuted and landed on the top of Devil's Tower Wyoming. 

To make it even more daring, he did not have one of today's modern sail chutes, which allow a jumper to maneuver and land on a dime. He had the old fashion round one that puts the jumper and great mercy of the wind with very little ability to guide their way down.

To make matters worse he did not inform the park service of his stunt. That means there was no one to help him if something went wrong. What could go wrong? Well...

Once on top of the tower he planned to lower himself down with a 1000 foot rope that would be dropped from the plane with him. But he rope missed the tower. If you are wondering why he did not just use his chute and jump again, there is a very good reason. Yes. he had a chute. But Devil's Tower is wider at the base than at the top. He would not be able to jump far enough out. He would have bounced down the sides, his chute would not have had a chance to open.

Once the park service realized someone was stuck up there newspapers around the nation picked up the story. Supplies were dropped with a note that said help was coming. The Goodyear company even offered the use of their blimp. Imagine the publicity of that rescue. The Navy offered a helicopter. But Wyoming winds kept all help at bay.

Climbing Devil's tower was simply not done back in those days. Rock climbing was not a popular sport in 1941. A special climbing team had to be called. It took several days for them to arrive. After six days George Hopkins was rescued. He was in surprisingly good shape and spirits. During that six day period over 7000 people came to the monument to witness the ordeal.

Shortly after his adventure WWII started and Mr. George Hopkins joined the military. He worked for the army training airborne how to parachute.

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