The Independence Mountains are 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 arise ...

in northern

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

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 ...

. They are called Settoya in

Shoshoni The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

. The range reaches a maximum elevation of on the summit of

McAfee Peak McAfee Peak is the highest mountain in the Independence Mountains of northern Elko County, Nevada, United States. It ranks twenty-first among the most topographically prominent peaks in the state. The peak is located within the Mountain City Ra ...

. The range extends northward approximately from a point near Carlin to the banks of the

Owyhee River The Owyhee River is a tributary of the Snake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States. It is long.Owyhee Rive accessed November 3, 2019 The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the l ...

. To the east is the North Fork of the Humboldt River, and to the west is the

Owyhee Desert The Owyhee Desert ecoregion, within the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, is in the Northwestern United States. The Owyhee Uplands Byway passes through the desert. Geography An arid region of canyons, volcanic rock, sagebrush and grass makes up ...

. Passing to the south is the main branch of the

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is an extensive river drainage system located in north-central Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, to its terminus in the ...

, and near the northern end of the range is the

Wild Horse State Recreation Area Wild Horse State Recreation Area is a public recreation area located on the northeast shore of Wild Horse Reservoir, approximately north of Elko, Nevada. The park is a popular destination for fishing, and especially ice fishing Ice fishing ...

. The Owyhee River is tributary to the

Snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

- Columbia system, while the Humboldt is within the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

. From a point about seven miles north of Carlin, the range rises to Swales Mountain, at an elevation of . Dropping to an area of hills and buttes, it then rises again to

Lone Mountain Lone Mountain may refer to a place in the United States: * Lone Mountain, Tennessee, an unincorporated community * Lone Mountain (California), a hill in San Francisco, California ** Lone Mountain, San Francisco, California, the associated neighbor ...

(Nannies Peak), at . The range then drops nearly to the level of the surrounding valleys, at a pass where State Route 226 connects to the community of

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

. Rising sharply to the main core of the range, the crest runs through Wheeler Mountain (), Jack's Peak (), and finally to the range high point, McAfee Peak. Most of the range north of State Route 226 is included within the

Mountain City Ranger District A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Mountain ranges of Elko County, Nevada Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest Humboldt River Mountain ranges of Nevada