INDEPENDENCE ROCK, Wyo. — If you were on your way to Utah, California or Oregon a century and a half ago, and you were spending the day at Independence Rock, you'd be pretty excited.

Why because if you were headed to California - you were 1/2 of the way there.

If you were here on or about the fourth of July that was a very good sign for you; in that you could get where you were going before grazing supplies ran out and winter storms headed in.

If you were spending the holiday near the rock, chances are very good that you would also climb it — if not to carve or paint your name on its granite surface, at least to look for names of people you might recognize that had also passed this way.

Despite what the web claims about american graffiti; that it started in the 1960s is wrong. Long before it became a popular form of entertainment and vandalism for bored teenagers, America's pioneers were carving their names on this giant rock in the middle of Wyoming.

This giant monolith, is one of the most well-known landmarks on the pioneer trail, and served as both calendar and newspaper for early emigrants.

The rock rises to 136 feet above the surrounding terrain at its tallest spot; if you were to walk around the base, you'd cover a distance just over a mile.

Geologists suggest that the rock arrived through a process called "exfoliation." As the rock was slowly uncovered by erosion, pressure from overlying rock gradually lessened. Layers of granite broke away, like peeling layers of an onion, until the sleek, round form is all that remained. Then windblown sand and silt polished the surface in a process called "wind faceting.”

some of the words from the early pioneer journals as they described the rock were as follows: a "stern dome" to "a bowl turned upside down," "a mammoth egg half buried," "a great turtle," "a huge, sleeping hippopotamus" and "a huge whale.”

William Clayton, who passed Independence Rock with the first company of Mormon pioneers in 1847, noted that it and other rocks in the region looked as if "giants in by-gone days had taken them in wheelbarrows of tremendous size" and dumped them on the ground.

Whatever its description, the rock was a welcome sight to weary travelers — as it had been to the fur trappers and mountain men before them.

Various theories and stories account for the name. some say that mountain man "Broken-Hand" Fitzpatrick christened it on July 4, 1824, when his buffalo hide boat capsized on the nearby Sweetwater River.

But General William H. Ashley, fur-trader extraordinaire, was known to have camped here on July 4, 1825, and he may have chosen the title.

William Sublette is also said to have held a patriotic Independence Day celebration here in 1830, as he led the first wagon train across the route now known as the Oregon Trail.

And some also credit the explorer Captain Bonneville, claiming he named it not for the date but for its position — standing as it does alone and independent on the prairie.

However it got its name, it was well-known — and well-used — by 1840, when Father Peter DeSmet noted the names already carved on its surface and called it "The Register of the Desert.”

Between then and the coming of the railroad in 1869, more than half-a-million emigrants passed by Independence Rock. More than 5,000 of them wrote their names on the rocky register.

Its use as a name registry was already well established by the time Brigham Young and the vanguard company passed it in June 1847.

The first recorded entry was from Willford Woodruff on June 21st 1847, who was scouting ahead of the rest of Brigham Young’s company; he came to Independence Rock, and made this journal entry: "I arose early this morning, took breakfast in company with Brother Brown, we rode clear around Independence Rock. I should judge the distance to be about 3/4 of a mile, we examined the many names and lists of names of the trapper, traders, travelers, and immigrants which are painted upon these rocks. Nearly all the names were put on with red, black, and yellow paint, some had washed out and the greatest number was put on within a few years. some of them were quite plain… After going around and examining it, we staked our horses, mounted the rock, and I went forward and gained the highest point at the south end of the rock, which contained the names... After examining it, I went to the north end, which is the highest part of the rock, There is an opening or cavern that would contain 30 or 40 persons and a rock ... the highest peak of about 3 tons weight. We got upon this rock and offered up our prayers, according to the order of the priesthood, we prayed concerning ... for the blessings of God to rest upon President Young and his brethren of the Twelve and all of the pioneer camp and the whole camp of Israel and House of Israel, over our wives and children and relatives, and the Mormon Battalion, all the churches abroad, and that the Lord would hasten the time of the fulfillment of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Lehi, Nephi, Alma, and Moroni and all the sayings of the Lord concerning the building up of Zion in the last days and avenging the blood of the prophets and while offering up our prayer the spirit of the Lord descended upon us and we truly felt to rejoice.. ...After surveying the Rock, what we wished, we again descended to the ground. I was the first Latter-day Saint that ever went to that rock and offered up prayers according to the order of the priesthood. (Wilford Woodruff's Journal, June 21, 1847)

The Brigham Youngs first pioneer company reached the Sweetwater River about noon and rejoiced after their 49-mile overland march from the Platte.

During the lunch break, Sister Harriet Young made some bread, using the “saleratus," [alkali soda] a leavening salt similar to baking soda that the pioneers had found in saline lakes. When the mixture worked well, many other pioneers loaded up with white powder. One pioneer said “ I gathered about 50 pounds of saleratus”.
Then after nooning at the sweetwater, the company moved on that day to Independence Rock and arrived here around 3 p.m. A few men, including Brigham Young, Willard Richards, and George A. Smith, climbed the huge granite mound. William Clayton left a guide board at the site with the following inscription: "To Fort John [Laramie] 1751/4 miles. Pioneers, June 21, 1847. W.R." The initials "W.R." stood for Willard Richards.

From many journals it is evident that independence rock was a favorite nooning place; reading from the journal of Phoebe Judson, who celebrated the Fourth here in 1853, by whipping up "a savory pie, made of sage hen and rabbit, with a rich gravy; and a crust, having been raised with yeast, was as light as a feather." It was served with fruitcake, poundcake and spongecake for desert.

There was a special excitement from the journal of 12-year-old Rachel Woolley, who came by in 1848 with Brigham Young's second wagon train. "We heard so much of Independence Rock long before we got there," she wrote. "Father staid long enough for us children to go all over it. It is an immense rock with holes and crevices where the water is dripping cool and sparkling.”

If you listen really close at night you can almost hear the traces of music. In 1848 Curtis Edwin Bolton noted that while his company "camped there, the band played most beautifully til late. some danced up on top of the rock where the band were. It was a clear night and full moon.”

When the Martin Handcart company passed here they continued to struggle with the snow. John Jaques wrote: "On the evening of November I st, the handcart company camped at the Sweetwater bridge, on this side of the river, about five miles on the other side of Devil's Gate, arriving there about dark. There was a 'foot or eighteen inches of snow on the ground. As there were but one or two spades in camp, the emigrants had to shovel it way with their frying pans, or tin plates, 'or anything they could use for that Purpose, before they could pitch their tents, then the ground was frozen so hard that it was almost impossible to drive the tent pegs into it. some of the men were weak that it took them an hour or two to clear the places for tents and set them up. They would shovel and scrape way the hard snow a few minutes and then rest, then shovel and rest again, and so on. (John Jaques Journal)

What did the rock represent to the pioneers?
A way to check your progress - if you were there by a certain time your changes of success in reaching your destination were greatly improved.

From the top of the large rock you could look back and see how far and from where you had come.

If you were to turn 180 degrees you could look forward and see what lay ahead in your journey.

It was a way to know if a mother, a father, a brother or sister, or a friend had made it to this point. Can you imagine the feeling that would have come over you to know that you were close to renewing their acquaintance again.

Listen to the words penned by Lydia Allen Rudd on July 5, 1852. "Came to independence rock about ten o'clock this morning, I presume there are a million of names wrote on this rock. I saw my husbands name that he put on it 1849. . . .”

Do we have independence rocks in our life? If so what are they and how do we use them to help us?
Baptism.