Casper Mountain: The Anticline Above the City
Near Casper, Wyoming
The mountain rising to the south of Casper tops out at eight thousand one hundred and thirty feet, about three thousand feet above the city. On clear days its upper slopes offer views extending dozens of miles: the North Platte in its canyon, the oil fields to the north, the high plains east toward Nebraska.
Casper Mountain is a geologic anticline, ancient rock layers pushed upward and stripped by erosion. What shows on its flanks includes quartzite, schist, and gneiss dating back billions of years to the Precambrian era.
Humans have been here far longer than the city below. Archaeological evidence suggests occupation as far back as eleven thousand years ago. Stone tools found near quartzite outcroppings date to between four thousand five hundred and two thousand five hundred years before the current era. Today the mountain carries a ski area, hiking trails, and the city's television transmitters.
