Independence Rock Wyoming State Historical Site

This granite monolith is one of the more famous landmarks along the Oregon Trail and has served as a meeting place since the area was first inhabited.

Independence Rock is most famous for the names inscribed on its face: the names and dates of people who passed by this place in search of a new life in the frontier.

It was the names carved in stone here that caused Father Peter J. DeSmet to appropriately name this place “The Register of the Desert” in 1840.