The Independence Mountains are a range of peaks and hills in northern Elko County, in northeastern Nevada in the western United States. The range extends northward approximately 70 mi (110 km) from a point near Carlin to the banks of the Owyhee River. To the east is the North Fork of the Humboldt River, and to the west is the Owyhee Desert. Passing to the south is the main branch of the Humboldt River, and near the northern end of the range is the Wild Horse State Recreation Area. The Owyhee River is tributary to the Snake-Columbia system, while the Humboldt is within the Great Basin.
From a point about seven miles north of Carlin, the range rises to Swales Mountain, at an elevation of 8,068 ft (2,459 m). Dropping to an area of hills and buttes, it then rises again to Lone Mountain (Nannies Peak), at 8,780 ft (2,680 m). The range then drops nearly to the level of the surrounding valleys, at a pass where State Route 226 connects to the community of Tuscarora.
Rising sharply to the main core of the range, the crest runs through Wheeler Mountain (9,057 ft (2,761 m)), Jack's Peak (10,198 ft (3,108 m)), and finally to McAfee Peak (10,439 ft (3,182 m)), the highest point of the range.
Famous quotes containing the words independence and/or mountains:
“In a famous Middletown study of Muncie, Indiana, in 1924, mothers were asked to rank the qualities they most desire in their children. At the top of the list were conformity and strict obedience. More than fifty years later, when the Middletown survey was replicated, mothers placed autonomy and independence first. The healthiest parenting probably promotes a balance of these qualities in children.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)
“It is the sorrow; shall it melt? Ah, water
Would gush, flush, green these mountains and these valleys
And we rebuild our cities, not dream of islands.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)