Haystack Mountain is a mesa approximately east of Prewitt in

McKinley County McKinley County is a county in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 71,367. Its county seat is Gallup. The county was created in 1901 and named for President William M ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Geography

Haystack Mountain is a lone peak in the

Zuni Mountains Zuni may refer to: Peoples and languages * Zuni people, an indigenous people of the United States * Zuni language, their language Places * Zuni, Virginia, an unincorporated town in Virginia in the United States * Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, a ce ...

range in the southeast part of the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...

and is clearly visible from nearby Interstate 40. There is a Vertical Angle Benchmark from the

National Geodetic Survey The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping an ...

which marks the top of the mesa at .

History

From 1950 to 1980, this area was one of the highest

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

producing regions in the country. The Haystack Archaeological District is a protected area on the side of the mesa which is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as an

Anasazi The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, a ...

dwelling from 500–1500 AD.

References

External links

National Park Service Gallery information about Haystack Arch. Dist.USGS Topo map from 2010 showing Uranium deposits
{{Mountains of New Mexico, state=collapsed Mountains of New Mexico Mountains of McKinley County, New Mexico