North Wellsville Mountains from west, at Elwood, Utah with Mendon Peak, June 2008
The range separates the Cache Valley from the Wasatch Front (Bear River Valley), as well as form a portion of the border between Box Elder and Cache counties. Nearly all of the water collected by the Wellsville Mountains drains into the Bear River.[3]
While only moderately tall, they are particularly narrow. For this reason, it is often claimed they are one of the steepest mountain ranges in North America.[4][5][6] Box Elder (9,372 feet [2,857 m]) and the Wellsville Cone (9,356 feet [2,852 m]) are its two highest peaks. US-89/US-91 traverses Box Elder Canyon, Dry Canyon, and Wellsville Canyon, beginning east of Brigham City as a four-lane highway, curving north then northeast and entering Cache Valley at Wellsville.
The mountains were named for the nearby City of Wellsville.[7]
