The Sierra Madre Range 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 arise ...

in the western

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 ...

, located in south-central

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

and north-central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Geologically, it may be considered an extension of the Park Range of Colorado. South of the

Great Divide Basin The Great Divide Basin or Great Divide Closed Basin is an area of land in the Red Desert of Wyoming where none of the water falling as rain to the ground drains into any ocean, directly or indirectly. It is thus an endorheic basin, one of severa ...

, the US

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

runs along the Sierre Madre high points. Its western basins drain into the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

and its eastern into the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 In a ...

. Buck Mountain (11,396 feet (3474 m)) is the highest peak in the range and lies within Colorado. Bridger Peak () is its highest elevation on the Wyoming side of the range.

Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

resources within the range were extracted during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Ferris-Haggarty mine which lies about two miles west of Bridger Peak. Its operations were centered near

Encampment Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

15 miles to the east. Gold findings in the range during the 1890s sparked a short-lived

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 Z ...

that attracted thousands of prospectors. The possibility of further discoveries renewed interest during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Much of the range lies within the Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest. Protected areas include the

Encampment River Wilderness The Encampment River Wilderness is a designated wilderness area located in south central Wyoming in the United States. Entirely within Medicine Bow - Routt National Forests, Thunder Basin National Grassland, Medicine Bow National Forest, the wilde ...

, the Huston Park Wilderness, and parts of the

Mount Zirkel Wilderness The Mount Zirkel Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in Routt National Forest in northwest Colorado. The closest city is Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The wilderness is named after Mount Zirkel, the highest peak in the range at , which ...

. The range is traversed by

Wyoming Highway 70 Wyoming Highway 70 (WYO 70) is a state highway in southern Wyoming. The route travels from an intersection with WYO 789 in Baggs eastward to WYO 230 in Riverside. WYO 70 over Battle Pass is closed during winter (November to April). The sect ...

, which (except in winter when the road is closed) crosses the Continental Divide at an elevation of at Battle Pass near the old Battle mining site.''Red Mountain, Wyoming,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1961 The range supports a number of popular game species, including

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

, and

grouse Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondr ...

, along with other species mentioned in the state's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy Report. In 2009 the state's Game and Fish Department, describing its wildlife as "world class", issued a report recommending that the area's natural values be analyzed and that energy development leases in the area be withdrawn.

References

*

''Sierra Madre''. Wyoming State Geological Survey. Accessed 2010-10-20.

''Carbon County, Wyoming Highlights.'' Carbon County Visitors Council. Accessed 2010-10-21. {{Authority control Mountain ranges of Wyoming Ranges of the Rocky Mountains Landforms of Carbon County, Wyoming

See also

References