| Teapot Rock | |
| Location: | Natrona County, Wyoming, US |
| Nearest City: | Midwest, Wyoming |
| Coordinates: | 43.2333°N -106.3111°W |
| Built: | 1922 |
| Added: | December 30, 1974 |
| Refnum: | 74002028 |
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 75feet tall and is about 300feet in circumference. It is located a few hundred yards east of Wyoming Highway 259, about 19miles 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 6miles 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.[1]
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.[2] [3] 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 35301608oilbbl in 1923, the Teapot Dome field had about 64 wells, with a few producing more than 150oilbbl/d.[2]
In February 2015, the field was sold by the Department of Energy to a private firm.[4] [5]