This quartzite rock began as sand on the sea bottom, later hardened, was tilted to its present position by slow earth movement, and was then separated from the adjacent cliff by erosion. Its vertical light and dark bands are the original layers, and the inclined cracks in the dark layer resulted from readjustment in the layers during the tilting. The rock has been pictured in geologic books as a type illustrating important principles of structural geology and has drawn special interest from many investigators in geology visiting this region, among the first and foremost of whom was President Charles R. Van Hise of the University of Wisconsin.