Independence Rock is a large granite rock, approximately high, long, and wide, which is in southwestern

Natrona County, Wyoming Natrona County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 79,955, making it the second-most populous county in Wyoming. Its county seat is Casper, Wyoming, Casper. ...

along

Wyoming Highway 220 Wyoming Highway 220 (WYO 220) is the principal highway connecting the city of Casper, Wyoming, Casper to US 287/WYO 789. WYO 220 lies in northwestern Carbon County, Wyoming, Carbon and southern Natrona County, Wyoming, Natrona counties and along t ...

. During the middle of the 19th century, it formed a prominent and well-known landmark on the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

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 several ...

, and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

emigrant trails. Many of these emigrants carved their names on it, and it was described by early missionary and explorer Father

Pierre-Jean De Smet Pierre-Jean De Smet, SJ ( ; 30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Flemish Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for his widespread missionary work in the mid-19th ...

in 1840 as the ''Register of the Desert''. The site was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

on January 20, 1961 and is now part of Independence Rock State Historic Site, owned and operated by the state of Wyoming.

Description

The rock is a large rounded

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...

Archean The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic. The Earth Earth ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

typical of the surrounding region and is an isolated peak at the southeast end of the Granite Mountains. Its appearance is somewhat like the rounded

Enchanted Rock Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about north of Fredericksburg, Texas and south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans th ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(formerly known as Ayers Rock), although smaller in size. It is located in the high

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

region of central Wyoming, north of the Sentinel Rocks ridge and adjacent to the Sweetwater River. It is accessible from a rest area on

, approximately northeast of Muddy Gap and south-west of

Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...

History

The rock derives its name from the fact that it lies directly along the route of the

Emigrant Trail In the history of the American frontier, overland trails were built by pioneers throughout the 19th century and especially between 1829 and 1870 as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. These immigrants began to settle much of North Ame ...

. Pioneering wagon parties bound for

usually left the Missouri River in the early spring and hoped to reach the rock by July 4 (

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

in the United States), in order to reach their destinations before the first mountain snowfalls. It was likely named prior to 1830.

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

camped a mile below this site on August 1, 1843 and made this entry in the journal of his 1843–1844 expedition:

Everywhere within six or eight feet of the ground, where the surface is sufficiently smooth, and in some places sixty or eighty feet above, the rock is inscribed with the names of travelers. Many a name famous in the history of this country, and some well known to science, are to be found among those of traders and travelers.

Fremont carved a large cross into the rock monolith, which was blasted off the rock on July 4, 1847 by hundreds of California and Oregon emigrants who had gathered on the site.''Wyoming: A Guide to Its History, Highways and People (American Guide Series),'' Native American Books Distributor, 2007, pp. 386-7 Some Protestants considered the cross to be a symbol of the Pope and Catholicism. John Frémont was actually a member of the United States Episcopal Church.Bigelow, John, ''Memoir Of The Life And Public Services Of John Charles Fremont,'' Kessinger Publishing, 2006, p. 465 On July 4, 1862, Independence Rock was the site of Wyoming's first

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

meeting.

Gallery

Oregon Trail's Independence Rock 1870.gif, Independence Rock in 1870 File:Independence_Rock,_Wyoming,_USA,_July_2015.jpg, Independence Rock in 2015 Independence rock names 1.jpg, Names carved on Independence Rock, particularly of R. McCord in 1850 Independence rock names 2.jpg, Names carved on Independence Rock, particularly of W.R.R. Thompson, W. Pierce, J. Ware and J.S.O. Ward in 1861

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Rock formations of Wyoming Inscribed rocks Landforms of Natrona County, Wyoming California Trail Mormon Trail Oregon Trail Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming National Historic Landmarks in Wyoming Protected areas of Natrona County, Wyoming Wyoming state historic sites National Register of Historic Places in Natrona County, Wyoming Road transportation on the National Register of Historic Places IUCN Category III