Snake Butte was named for the many snakes - mostly rattlers and bull snakes which make it their home. The butte was also said to be the home of a monstrous snake that lived deep in the crevice of the butte. Legend has it that roving Indian parents "buried" an infant's body on the high cliff of Snake Butte. Before moving on, the parents visited the burial site twice, and came one last time before moving on. To their horror, the body was gone.

In the dust near the spot where they had left the child's body, the father discovered a track that appeared to be left by a snake, but it was too big to be believable. More than a foot wide, the track led from the burial site to a deep crevice. The Indian parents related the story to nearby villagers, and the frightened tribe pressed its leader to move on quickly. A medicine woman was consulted. After she spent a night spent on the butte, the medicine woman returned to the village proclaiming that a huge snake with evil powers had taken the child's body far down into the earth as a warning to all . . . that anyone who frequented the spot would disappear in a like manner.