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The Henry Mountains is a
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...
located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
that runs in a generally north-south direction, extending over a distance of about . They were named by Almon Thompson in honor of
Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smit ...
, the first secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
. The nearest town of any size is
Hanksville, Utah Hanksville is a small town in Wayne County, Utah, United States, at the junction of State Routes 24 and 95. The population was 219 at the 2010 census. Situated in the Colorado Plateau's cold desert ecological region, the town is just south ...
, which is north of the mountains. The Henry Mountains were the last mountain range to be added to the map of the 48 contiguous U.S. states (1872), and before their official naming by Thompson were sometimes referred to as the "Unknown Mountains." In
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...
, the range is still referred to as ''Dził Bizhiʼ Ádiní'' ("mountain whose name is missing"). The great majority of the land within the Henry Mountains is owned by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...
. A herd of 350
American Bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
roams freely in the Henrys.


Geography and geology

The range is clustered into two main groups, with Highway 276 dividing the two portions. The northern group is by far the higher and larger in area of the two with Mount Ellen: above sea level; Mount Pennell: ; and
Mount Hillers Mount Hillers is a summit in the Henry Mountains range, in Garfield County, Utah, in the United States. Its elevation is . It was named by Almon Harris Thompson for John Karl Hillers, a government photographer. Climate Spring and fall are the ...
: . The southern group is much lower in elevation. The southern group has two peaks: Mount Ellsworth: and
Mount Holmes Mount Holmes is a prominent mountain peak in Yellowstone National Park. It is the tallest mountain in the Wyoming portion of the Gallatin Range. Mount Holmes is located in the northwestern part of the park and marks the southern terminus of the ...
: . The southern group is also known as the "Little Rockies". The Henry Mountains are drained by several canyon systems which radiate away from the isolated range, flowing north into the
Fremont River The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near ...
, east into the
Dirty Devil River The Dirty Devil River is an tributary of the Colorado River, located in the U.S. state of Utah. It flows through southern Utah from the confluence of the Fremont River and Muddy Creek before emptying into the Colorado River at Lake Powell. Co ...
, or south into
Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximu ...
. Surface water is scarce in the Henrys. Precipitation is about annually at an elevation of at the foot of the mountains, increasing to about at elevation and then diminishing to about at the highest elevations. The geology of these mountains was first studied in 1875-1876 by
Grove Karl Gilbert Grove Karl Gilbert (May 6, 1843 – May 1, 1918), known by the abbreviated name G. K. Gilbert in academic literature, was an American geologist. Biography Gilbert was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from the University of Rochester. D ...
. He coined the term "laccolite" (now
laccolith A laccolith is a body of intrusive rock with a dome-shaped upper surface and a level base, fed by a conduit from below. A laccolith forms when magma (molten rock) rising through the Earth's crust begins to spread out horizontally, prying apar ...
) to describe the characteristic shapes of some of the igneous intrusions that core the mountains. The main type of igneous rock is
porphyritic Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning a ...
diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sil ...
. This continues to be a unique area of study for geologists who focus on intrusion emplacement processes, since the near-horizontal sedimentary strata is clearly folded to accommodate the magma. The ages of igneous rocks are important for understanding the evolution 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 o ...
. The ages of these rocks measured by potassium–argon dating between 1969 and 1990 were discordant, ranging from 25 to 45 million years. However,
uranium–lead dating Uranium–lead dating, abbreviated U–Pb dating, is one of the oldest and most refined of the radiometric dating schemes. It can be used to date rocks that formed and crystallised from about 1 million years to over 4.5 billion years ago with routi ...
of
zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of t ...
,
argon–argon dating Argon–argon (or 40Ar/39Ar) dating is a radiometric dating method invented to supersede potassiumargon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy. The older method required splitting samples into two for separate potassium and argon measurements, while the newer ...
of
hornblende Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rock ...
, and fission track dating have yielded consistent ages of about 23 to 31 million years. The intrusions are hosted by
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleo ...
to
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
sedimentary rocks. The geology of these mountains is similar to the geology of the La Sal Range and of the Abajo Mountains, both also on the Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah.


History

The Henry Mountains were sparsely occupied by Native Americans for thousands of years before the arrival of the first White settlers. The first exploration of the Henrys was in spring 1872 by Almon Harris Thompson, who climbed and named the highest summit in the Henrys after his wife Ellen. Several
Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into se ...
settlements, usually ephemeral, were established during the 1880s. In the 1890s the Henrys experienced several
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
es of short duration. In about 1900, ranchers introduced large herds of sheep. By the 1930s, the Henrys were heavily overgrazed by sheep, causing erosion and damaging native vegetation. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 curtailed most of the overgrazing. A 2015 report identified only a few small areas still impacted by overgrazing, and vegetation cover had improved in most areas. "The conditions of aridity, isolation, and rugged surroundings have always kept settlement and development in the Henry Mountains to a minimum...The landscape is just too harsh, the distances too vast."


Bison

The Henry Mountains are home to approximately 350
American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
. Via genetic testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, the Henry Mountains bison herd is one of only three free-roaming and genetically purebred bison herds on public lands in the United States. This study, published in 2015, also showed the Henry Mountains bison to be free of
brucellosis Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever. The ...
, a bacterial disease that was imported with non-native domestic cattle to North America. The other two American herds are in
Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...
and
Wind Cave National Park Wind Cave National Park is an American national park located north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first c ...
in
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
. The majority of free-ranging American Bison (approximately 90%) are found in
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
,
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
, and the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
,Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources - Northwest Territories
, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources - Northwest Territories
with additional populations in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
transplanted from Canada in 2008. The Henry Mountains Bison Herd was created in 1941 when 18 bison, including three bulls, were moved from Yellowstone National Park and released near the
Dirty Devil River The Dirty Devil River is an tributary of the Colorado River, located in the U.S. state of Utah. It flows through southern Utah from the confluence of the Fremont River and Muddy Creek before emptying into the Colorado River at Lake Powell. Co ...
, south and east of
Hanksville, Utah Hanksville is a small town in Wayne County, Utah, United States, at the junction of State Routes 24 and 95. The population was 219 at the 2010 census. Situated in the Colorado Plateau's cold desert ecological region, the town is just south ...
. An additional five bulls were added to the population in 1942. The herd has gradually moved toward the Henry Mountains, frequenting elevations up to . The Henry Mountain herd has been
brucellosis Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever. The ...
-free since 1963. Utah wildlife biologists set a population objective of 325 bison by 2012 for the Henry Mountain herd. As bison reproduce rapidly and the herds have been larger than this in the past, a decision was made to reduce the size of the herd. To achieve this objective and increase overall genetic diversity, breeding animals are transplanted to other locations from the herd. In January 2008,
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guardian of ...
officials transplanted 31 animals to the
Book Cliffs The Book Cliffs are a series of desert mountains and cliffs in western Colorado and eastern Utah in the western United States. They are so named because the cliffs of Cretaceous sandstone that cap many of the south-facing buttes appear simi ...
in eastern Utah. The new group joined 14 animals previously released in August, 2008 from a private herd on the nearby
Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation (, ) is located in northeastern Utah, United States. It is the homeland of the Ute Indian Tribe ( Ute dialect: Núuchi-u), and is the largest of three Indian reservations inhabited by members of the Ute Trib ...
. In addition, special licenses are issued annually to hunt the animals and help reduce the excess population. In 2009, 146 public once-in-a-lifetime Henry Mountain bison hunting permits were issued.


Management

Much of the area is managed by the United States
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...
.


References

* Jules D. Friedman and Curtis Huffman Jr., coordinators, ''Laccolith Complexes of Southeastern Utah: Time of Emplacement and Tectonic Setting—Workshop Proceedings'', United States Geological Survey Bulletin 2158, 1998. http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2158/B2158.pdf * W. Kenneth Hamblin, Beyond the Visible Landscape: Aerial Panoramas of Utah's Geology. Regal Printing Limited., Hong Kong, http://www.regalprinting.com.hk 300 p., 2004.


External links


The Henry Mountains by Roy Webb / broken link 2016-03-27
Kay, Charles E. 2015. Long Term Vegetation Change in Utah's Henry Mountains: A Study in Repeat Photography. BLM-UT-GI-14001-8002+REV15. 274 pages. https://web.archive.org/web/20161006151707/http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/blm_library/misc_pubs.Par.74891.File.dat/Kay2015_HenryMtns.pdf {{Authority control Mountain ranges of Utah Colorado Plateau Laccoliths Mountain ranges of Garfield County, Utah Mountain ranges of Wayne County, Utah