Granite Mountains (Wyoming)
Encyclopedia
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
in central Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The range runs approximately 100 mi (160 km) E-W along the south side of the Shoshone Basin, and north of the Sweetwater River
Sweetwater River (Wyoming)
The Sweetwater River is a tributary of the North Platte River, long, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Its waters eventually reach the Atlantic Ocean. The Sweetwater rises in southwestern Fremont County, at the continental divide near South Pass Wyoming, on the southern end of the Wind River Range...
, in eastern Fremont County and western Natrona County. The highest point is Independence Rock
Independence Rock (Wyoming)
Independence Rock is a large granite rock, approximately high, in southwestern Natrona County in the U.S. state of Wyoming, along Wyoming Highway 220. During the middle of the 19th century, the rock was a prominent and well-known landmark on the Oregon, Mormon and California emigrant trails. It...
at 6028 feet (1,837.3 m). The region is rich in uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
and other mineral deposits.