This area was a lava flow that has cooled into rocks that resemble pillars. Early Indians and settlers did not realize that these were rocks from ancient volcanoes. There are many legends that use the rocks as a backdrop, with no reference to its volcanic nature.

 "Once there were seven brothers, one day the wife of the oldest brother was carried off by a huge bear to his cave. Her husband mourned her loss greatly. The youngest brother who had great power told him to make 4 arrows with a special design. Then he and the other brothers went to the cave, where they found the bear asleep with his head resting in the wife’s lap. They helped her escape. When the bear awoke and found the woman gone he was so mad that he rounded up all the bears in the area, as he was the leader and set out to find the Indians.

The youngest of the brothers (who was a holy man) saw the bears coming and he took a small rock from his pocket, sang a sacred song and made the rock grow to the size it is today. The leader bear kept jumping up the sides of the rock trying to get to the top of the rock where the Indians were seeking protection, his claws marking the sides of the tower. On his forth jump they shot an arrow into his head and that killed him. The story ends with the brothers capturing the last two bears and telling them never to bother people again. To make sure, he cut off their ears and tails. That is why to this day bears have short ears and no tails." From a tourist postcard.