Chimney Rock Museum
How tall is Chimney Rock?
Chimney Rock in the early 1900s.
Today, Chimney Rock is estimated to be 325 feet from tip to base and 120 feet for the spire. Over the years, many people have tried to measure the Rock.
1830
Warren Angus Ferris offered the first known estimate of Chimney Rock, “It is half a mile in circumference at the base and rises to the height of three hundred feet.
Captain Benjamin Bonneville wrote, “From the summit shoots up a shaft or column, about one hundred and twenty feet in height, from which it derives its name.”
1849
Forty-niner David Cosad used the centuries-old method of measuring his shadow against the rock’s to come up with a figure of 360 feet from the base to the top.
1864
Captain Eugene Ware wrote, “We estimated the height of the chimney itself to be eighty-five feet. Elston said that it was the belief of the trappers that during the last fifteen years it had crumbled down from the top about thirty-five feet.”
1895
The United States Geological Survey, using scientific instruments, calculated the elevation
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Chimney Rock Over The Years
How tall is Chimney Rock?
