Shell Falls
Near Shell

Shell Falls has been described as the thundering heartbeat of the magnificent Big Horn Mountain Range!

About sixty million years ago the area that is now the Big Horn Mountains began to bow upward, and the basins on either side began to sag downward. Today the highest point is Cloud Peak, about twenty-six miles south of here, a respectable 13,175 feet high. Millions of years of erosion have removed almost all the sedimentary rocks from the top of the Big Horns, exposing the ancient “basement” rocks, the granite over which Shell Falls now roars. Colorful layers of sedimentary rock still clothe the flanks of the Big Horns, making the ride over Highway 14 one of the most spectacular in the west.

Shell Canyon has been formed by the headward erosion of Shell Creek over millions of years. The creek has incised a deep chasm through the three billion year old granite you see around you. The water of Shell Falls, falling at the rate of some 3,600 gallons per second, follows the course of fractures in the resistant granite. This grey and pink granite is among some of the oldest rock on earth, while the softer Flathead sandstone which rests on top of it, some 550 million years old, contains some of the earliest fossils of hard shelled creatures you can find. Such ancient shells gave Shell Canyon, and Shell Falls, their names.

There is a quality of the sublime in all waterfalls, but especially in Shell Falls. The thudding sensation of falling water can be felt through the soles of your feet, and the water’s voice has a way of soothing the traveler. The memory of Shell Falls, cool and green, has stayed with generations of visitors as they traveled on through the harsher basins bordering the Big Horn Mountains.

The People of Shell Falls
It would be fascinating to know how the Falls were perceived by the native Americans: the prehistoric Indians, and the Shoshone, Sioux, Crow and Cheyenne that followed them. Indian people have occupied the Big Horn country for at least eleven thousand years.

The journals of many settlers in the Big Horn Basin mention Shell Falls. Whole families would often forsake the summer heat of their lowland ranches and farms and make a special trip to the Falls. This part of the Big Horn country was very remote to outside visitors until recently. The Burlington Northern Railroad reached the Greybull area in 1909, but few tourists ventured into the Shell area until the 1920’s. The first road up Shell Canyon was completed in 1932.

The modern highway through the canyon is surprisingly young. Much of it was completed in the mid-1960s, with major improvements performed in the 1980s.

An interesting point of local history concerns the massive limestone promontory called Copman’s Tomb. This conspicuous landmark forms the northwest skyline as seen from Shell Falls, and is visible from the town of Shell far below in the Big Horn Basin.

In 1879, pioneer cattleman Henry Lovell, trailed several large herds of Shorthorn cattle from Oregon into the country on the west side of the Big Horns. Working for Lovell was a young man named Jack Copman. Copman decided to establish himself as a trapper, and set up a camp on a tributary of Shell Creek that became known as Trapper Creek.

Long before the invention of the airplane, visitors to Copman’s camp were amazed to see his “flying machine.” This was an elaborate model glider which Copman would hurl into the air by hand. Copman dreamed of constructing a full-sized glider and knew just where he wanted to launch it, with himself as pilot. He eyed the impressive wedge-shaped prow of what we now call Copman’s Tomb. Copman was intelligent, mechanically inclined, and shared his dream of flight with many local people.

Years later, a successful businessman and devoted husband and father, Copman knew that he would likely never fulfill his quest. He asked only that, when someone finally invented a flying machine, his ashes be scattered from such a device over the butte that figured so prominently in his young dreams. With his family in Europe at the time of his death in 1907, his wish could not be fulfilled. Copman is remembered as a visionary—his ideas well ahead of his era. Though he is buried in the Greybull cemetery, his real burial monument remains “Copman’s Tomb.”

The Animals of Shell Falls
There is an animal that loves the rumble and roar of falling water, that seeks it out as the place to feed and rear its young. Fast water does not deter it, and the bone-chilling cold of Shell Creek does not seem to touch it. The most surprising thing of all is that this is not a huge, fur-covered creature, but a diminutive, delicate-looking bird! The water ouzel, or dipper, is a tiny, slate grey bird, inconspicuous but for its unusual habit of repeatedly raising and lowering itself, dipping, on its tiny ouzel legs. The ouzel, which looks very much like a wren, can be seen entering the frigid waters of mountain streams without hesitation. While under the water its oily plumage protects it, and it uses its wings and feet to navigate through the stream, searching for aquatic insects, larvi and worms. It builds a large, moss-insulated nest, often close to waterfalls, and lays three to six eggs.

Another classic resident of the Shell Falls area is the rainbow trout, a lover of cold, well-oxygenated water. You can often see them lying quietly in the big plunge pools directly below the Falls. The “rainbow’ comes by its name honestly. Its flanks are colored iridescent pink and electric blue. The rainbow is not native to the Big Horns, but was originally found only in localized areas of the California Sierras. Decades of transplanting this handsome fish now cause it to be found in mountain streams and lakes all over the west.

The trip to Shell Falls is often enlivened by the sight of moose. This largest of North American antlered mammals is frequently seen grazing the willow bottoms between Shell Falls and Burgess Junction. Moose are uniformly dark brown or black, with “scoop shovel” antlers and curved-down noses. There are no records of moose having inhabited the Big Horn Mountains prior to 1948, when eight were captured near Moran, Wyoming, and released on the east side of the Big Horns. Since then, aided by other “plants:” a large, healthy herd of moose now live in the Big Horn Mountains.

Many visitors to Shell Falls also see mule deer as they ascend either flank of the Big Horns. The name “mule deer” derives from their large, prominent ears. Mule deer prefer a diet of sagebrush, chokecherry, mountain mahogany, serviceberry, and other brushy species. The curlyleaf mountain mahogany you can see growing at the Shell Falls visitor center looks like it has been pruned. It has! Hungry mule deer love to feast on the tender leaves of this plant.

Reprinted from U.S. Forest Service brochure.