Rogers made elaborate preparations for the big event. With the assistance of Willard Ripley, another local rancher, he prepared a 350-foot ladder to the summit of the Tower. This was accomplished by driving pegs, cut from native oak, ash and willow, 24 to 30 inches in length and sharpened on one end, into a continuous vertical crack found between the two columns on the southeast side of the giant formation. The pegs were then braced and secured to each other by a continuous wooden strip to which the outer end of each peg was fastened. Before making the exhibition ascent, the men took a 12-foot flagpole to the top and planted it into the ground. The building of the ladder by Rogers and Ripley was an undertaking perhaps more hazardous than the climbing of the Tower itself. [Illustration: Handbill of first exhibition ascent of Devils Tower, July 4, 1893. _Courtesy National Park Service._] [Illustration: William Rogers. _Courtesy National Park Service._] People came for a distance from 100 to 125 miles to witness the first formal ascent of the Tower. The more conservative estimates are that about 1,000 people came by horseback, wagon and buckboard to see the spectacular feat. For many of them it was a trip requiring several days of tedious travel over rough and dusty trails. Rogers began his ascent following proper ceremonies which included an invocation. After climbing for about an hour he reached the top. Amid much cheering from the many open-mouthed spectators some 865 feet below, he unfurled an American flag, which had been specially made for the occasion, from the flagpole. Devils Tower had at last been conquered in the full view of an assembled throng. During the afternoon, a gust of wind tore the flag loose and it drifted down to the base of the Tower. Here the promoters tore it up and sold the pieces for souvenirs. Others were soon to climb the Tower by Rogers’ ladder. On July 4, 1895, Mrs. Rogers duplicated her husband’s climb of two years earlier and became the first woman to reach the summit. It is estimated that 25 people have made the ascent of the Tower by Rogers’ ladder. The last to reach the top by this means was “Babe” White, “the Human Fly,” in 1927. Much of the ladder has since been destroyed. However, a portion of it may still be seen on the southeast side of the Tower. A viewing device on the Tower trail assists the visitor to locate the remnants of the ladder.