National Register of Historic Places

Teapot Rock

Midwest, Natrona County, Wyoming
Listed
December 30, 1974
Type
Site
Period
Listed
Ref No.
74002028

About this property

Teapot Rock, also Teapot Dome, is a distinctive sedimentary rock formation and nearby oil field in Natrona County, Wyoming, that became the focus of the Teapot Dome bribery scandal during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The eroded sandstone formation stands about 75 feet (25 m) tall and is about 300 feet (90 m) in circumference. It is located a few hundred yards east of Wyoming Highway 259, about 19 miles (30 km) north of Casper, Wyoming, in the Powder River Basin near Teapot Creek, a tributary of Salt Creek. The outline of the rock once resembled a teapot and gave its name to several man-made and natural features, including a geologic structural uplift known as the Teapot Dome, and an oil field about 6 miles (10 km) east. Over time, the features that gave the formation its name have been eroded by windstorms; the "handle" disappeared in 1930 and the "spout" in 1962. In 1915, the Teapot Dome Oil Field was designated Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Three as part of a program to ensure that the U.S. Navy, which was converting to oil-fired boilers, would have sufficient fuel reserves in an emergency. It was one of several fields in the area, the largest of which was the Salt Creek Oil Field. By comparison to the Salt Creek Field peak production of 35,301,608 barrels (5,612,507.2 m3) in 1923, the Teapot Dome field had about 64 wells, with a few producing more than 150 barrels per day (24 m3/d). The Teapot Dome oil field was idle for 49 years following the scandal, but went back into production in 1976. After Teapot Dome had earned over $569 million in revenue from the 22 million barrels (3,500,000 m3) of oil extracted over the previous 39 years, the Department of Energy sold the oil field in February 2015 for $45 million to New York–based privately-owned Stranded Oil Resources Corp. "Teapot Rock", NRHP database (PDF) (photographs), National Park Service Teapot Rock, Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office "Teapot Rock", Wyoming places (wiki), archived from the original on February 3, 2015, retrieved February 8, 2011 HAER No. WY-100, "Teapot Dome Oilfield", 6 photos, 42 data pages, 3 photo caption pages HAER No. WY-100-A, "Teapot Dome Oilfield, Tank Ring No. 2016", 3 photos, 14 data pages, 2 photo caption pages HAER No. WY-100-B, "Teapot Dome Oilfield, Mammoth Camp Sewer Facility", 4 photos, 15 data pages, 2 photo caption pages

Location

Midwest, Natrona County, Wyoming
43.23344, -106.31077

Categories

INDUSTRYCONSERVATIONPOLITICS/GOVERNMENT
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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The Land
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Geology
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Conflict & War
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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Casper Army Air Base
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24.1 mi
Stone Ranch Stage Station
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25.4 mi
Roosevelt School
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25.4 mi
North Casper Clubhouse
Pre Contact
25.7 mi
Odd Fellows Building
Colonial
26.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was Teapot Rock listed on the National Register?

Teapot Rock was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1974.

What type of historic resource is Teapot Rock?

Teapot Rock is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Teapot Rock?

The period of significance for Teapot Rock is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Teapot Rock?

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