Name: Hells Half Acre

 

County: Natrona

 

Authority Name: 

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1070535W

Latitude: 430217N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 5876/1791

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Range

 

Origin of Name:

This geological freak of land, consisting of about 300 acres, was formerly and appropriately known as “The Devils Kitchen.” It is about 50 miles west from the city of Casper, and attracts many tourists. In this weird depression there are deep caverns, crevices, pits, towers, spires, buttresses, and other architectural features, which suggest the ruins of man’s creation, rather than the wearing away of the formation of the earth. Here and there, standing alone, are quaint forms carved by wind and weather out of the volcanic matter, and then there are a number of places the effect of which is that of the pyramids of Egypt, dropped down into this un-Egyptian landscape. Many fossils of the prehistoric age have been found in this area. During the summer of 1907 a professor from the University of Wyoming unearthed a skull of a Titanotherium (Thunder Beast), an animal which is very similar to a rhinoceros. This beast roamed the plains over 30 to 60 million years ago.

Source: WPA

 

Other Names: The Devils Kitchen

 

Alternative Spellings: Hell's Half Acre

 

History:

 

Stories:

 

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Hells Half Acre

 

Newspapers:

 

More Information: 

 

Pictures: