Why is it Called Independence Rock?

On July 26, 1849, J. Goldsborough Bruff "reached Independence Rock...at a distance looks like a huge whale. It is being painted and marked every way, all over, with names, dates, initials -- so that it was with difficulty I could find a place to inscribe it."

Located west of Alcova, Independence Rock is hard to miss. Today, the historic site has a footpath going around the base of the rock. Interpretive exhibits tell the story of the trail, a deep wagon swale is visible beneath the path's footbridge.

Inscriptions from the thousands of emigrants who camped there.

Some say a mountain man named Thomas Fitzpatrick named the rock, but historians believe the more likely story is that William L. Sublette christened the rock in 130 by celebrating the Fourth of July with 81 men and 10 wagons on their way to the Wind River.

Popular legend suggests pioneers used the rock as a marker of progress on their journeys West. If they could reach the rock by the Fourth of July they were doing well on time. Otherwise, they might not make it before winter.

The rock is about 1,900 feet long, 700 feet wide, and 130 feet tall, spanning 25 acres.

It was designated a national historic landmark in 1961.