Independence Rock is a large
granite rock, approximately high, long and wide, in southwestern
Natrona County,
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. Many of these emigrants carved their names on the rock, and it was described by early missionary and explorer Father
Pierre-Jean De Smet in 1840 as the
Register of the Desert. The site was designated a
National Historic Landmark on January 20, 1961. It is now part of
Independence Rock State Historic Site, owned and operated by the state of Wyoming.