Teapot Rock facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Teapot Rock
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Teapot Rock in 2017, from the west.
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 Location in Wyoming
Location in the United States
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| Location | Natrona County, Wyoming, USA |
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| Nearest city | Midwest, Wyoming |
| Built | 1922 |
| NRHP reference No. | 74002028 |
| Added to NRHP | December 30, 1974 |
Teapot Rock is a rock formation in Natrona County, Wyoming. A nearby oil field is named after the rock. The oil field was the focus of a bribery scandal during the administration of Warren G. Harding, the Teapot Dome scandal. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The eroded sandstone formation is 75 feet (23 m) tall and is about 300 feet (91 m) in circumference. It is a few hundred yards east of Wyoming Highway 259, about 19 miles (31 km) north of Casper, Wyoming in the Powder River Basin near Teapot 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 (9.7 km) east.
In 1915, U.S. Navy was converting its ships to oil-fired boilers. The Navy bought the Teapot Dome Oil Field. It was called "Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Three" as part of a program to ensure that the Navy would have sufficient fuel reserves in an emergency. It was one of several related fields in the area, the largest of which was the Salt Creek Oil Field. By comparison with the Salt Creek Field's peak production of 35,301,608 barrels (5,612,507.2 m3) of 1923, the Teapot Dome field had about 64 wells, with few producing more than 150 barrels per day (24 m3/d).
Images for kids
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Teapot Rock on an old postcard
