View from the Dead Horse Point Overlook
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Moab, Utah
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved
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Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for Canyonlands, Canyonlands State Park, Colorado River, corral, Dead Horse Point, Dead Horse Point Overlook, Dead Horse Point State Park, erosion, geology, horses, Island in the Sky, Moab, promontory, Utah, and wild mustang.
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The vista from the Dead Horse Point Overlook. Dead Horse Point, located just north of the Island in the Sky region of the newer Canyonlands National Park, is a promontory, a large mass of land overlooking a lower area of land or water. They are formed when erosion deteriorates softer minerals on either side of a harder formation of rock. It stands 6,000 feet above sea level and 2,000 feet above the Colorado River winding below.
Its curious name comes from the fact that in the 19th century, the mesa at the Point was a natural corral for cowboys and horse thieves. They also used this area to break the wild mustangs that once ran free on the mesa. The only route of escape was a thirty-yard neck of land, which was controlled by fencing. Unfortunately, the lack of food, water, and space on the mesa often killed the horses. The area is mostly barren, save for a few hardy plant species, most with small leaves that allow for less evaporation of water.
