Double Mountains is the name of a pair of flat-topped
butte
In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...
s located southwest of
Aspermont in
Stonewall County, Texas
Stonewall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,245. Its county seat is Aspermont. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1888. It is named for Stonewall Jackson, a genera ...
.
While the ''
Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
'' gives their elevation as either
or ,
[ ]United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
maps give the elevation of the western mountain as and that of the eastern mountain as between .[ Together, the mountains form part of the high ground dividing the ]watershed
Watershed may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage)
Music
* Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
s of the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
The Double Mountain Fork Brazos River is an ephemeral, sandy-braided stream about long, heading on the Llano Estacado of West Texas about southeast of Tahoka, Texas, flowing east-northeast across the western Rolling Plains to join the Salt Fo ...
.[ the higher eastern mountain is the highest point in Stonewall County][ and the most ]topographically prominent
In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...
point for almost , the nearest more prominent peak being Mount Scott in Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. As such an isolated geographical feature, the mountains are visible from a great distance, and feature commanding views from their tops.[
Their prominence has long made them important regional landmarks,][ dating back at least to 1788, when Jose Mares opened a trail from ]San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
to Santa Fe; thereafter, the mountains were waymarkers "for every westward expedition and a rendezvous for buffalo
Buffalo most commonly refers to:
* True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo
* Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo
* Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
hunters."[ They were also cited by the surveying party of ]Randolph B. Marcy
Randolph Barnes Marcy (April 9, 1812 – November 22, 1887) was an officer in the United States Army, chiefly noted for his frontier guidebook, the ''Prairie Traveler'' (1859), based on his own extensive experience of pioneering in the west. This ...
in 1849.[
Although paved roads do not lead directly to the mountains, they are accessible via paved Farm to Market Roads 2211 and 610 and dirt ]county roads
A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departm ...
; a steep dirt road leads up to the summit of each of the pair of mountains. A prominent radio tower stands on the eastern summit.[
At one time, ]Comanche
The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
leader Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (, ; – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwahadis, the son of Kwahadi Coman ...
and his band lived on or near the mountains, and according to one source, the mountains were once a sacred place to the Comanches.
Town of Double Mountain
A town of Double Mountain once existed a few miles north of the hills. Established in 1886, the community featured a post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
, sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
, schoolhouse, and Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
and Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
churches for several years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but had become a ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
by the 1980s.[
]
See also
*Blanco Canyon
Blanco Canyon is a canyon located in the U.S. state of Texas. Eroded by the White River (Texas), White River into the Caprock Escarpment on the east side of the Llano Estacado, the canyon runs for in a southeasterly direction, gradually widening ...
*Brazos River
The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...
*Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
The Double Mountain Fork Brazos River is an ephemeral, sandy-braided stream about long, heading on the Llano Estacado of West Texas about southeast of Tahoka, Texas, flowing east-northeast across the western Rolling Plains to join the Salt Fo ...
*Duffy's Peak
Duffy's Peak is a small hill or butte near the Salt Fork Brazos River in Garza County, Texas. Duffy's Peak extends less than above the river, yet despite its small size, it served as an important landmark for early surveyors of the region and i ...
* Kiowa Peak
*Geology of Texas
Texas contains a wide variety of geologic settings. The state's stratigraphy has been largely influenced by marine transgressive-regressive cycles during the Phanerozoic, with a lesser but still significant contribution from late Cenozoic tecto ...
*Mushaway Peak
Mushaway Peak is a small but conspicuous butte located southeast of Gail in central Borden County, Texas. It is one of the region's most venerable landmarks.
The summit of this peak rises to an altitude of above sea level, which is roughly t ...
*North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
The North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River is an intermittent stream about long, heading at the junction of Blackwater Draw and Yellow House Draw in the city of Lubbock, flowing generally southeastward to its mouth on the Double Mountain F ...
* Rath City, Texas
*Salt Fork Brazos River
The Salt Fork Brazos River is a braided, highly intermittent stream about long, heading along the edge of the Llano Estacado about east-southeast of Lubbock, Texas. From its source, it flows generally east-southeastward to join the Double Moun ...
*West Texas
West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...
*Yellow House Canyon
Yellow House Canyon is about long, heading in Lubbock, Texas, at the junction of Blackwater Draw and Yellow House Draw, and trending generally southeastward to the edge of the Llano Estacado about east of Slaton, Texas; it forms one of three ...
References
External links
Handbook of Texas Online — Double Mountain
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{{Clear
Landforms of Stonewall County, Texas
Mountains of Texas
Buttes of the United States