Mushaway Peak is a small but conspicuous
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 ...
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 the same altitude as the
High Plains of the
Llano Estacado to the northwest. Mushaway Peak is in fact an erosional remnant of what was once a much larger
Llano Estacado that has gradually retreated by the process of headward erosion. Its resistant cap has protected its underlying sediments, which have remained intact while surrounding sediments have been eroded away by Grape Creek and Bull Creek, two tributaries of the upper
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
.
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]
Proper name
Mushaway Peak has been known by various names, including: Cordova Mountain, Cordova Peak, De Corde Peak, Mount Irwin, Mochaquo Mountain, Muchakooago Peak, Mucha Koo Ave, Mucha Kooay Mountain, Muchakooayo Peak, Muchakooay Peak, Mucha Koody Mountain, Mucha Kooga, Muchakooga Peak, Muchakooyo Peak, Mucha Kowa Peak, Mucha Koway Peak, Muchaque Peak, or simply Old Baldy. In a 1936 decision of the United States Board on Geographical Names, "Muchakooay Peak" was recommended as proper orthography.[United States Board on Geographical Names. 1936. Decisions of the United States Board on Geographical Names, United States Department of the Interior, Washington DC, p. 31.] However, the 1936 decision was revised in 1973 when "Mushaway Peak" was selected as the official name of this geographic feature.[United States Board on Geographical Names. 1973. Decisions on Geographical Names in the United States, Decision list no. 7301, United States Department of the Interior, Washington DC, p. 11.]
See also
* Caprock Escarpment
* Double Mountains (Texas)
* Duffy's Peak
* Kiowa Peak
* Farm to Market Road 669
*Mount Blanco
Mount Blanco is a small white hill — an erosional remnant — located on the eastern border of the Llano Estacado within Blanco Canyon in Crosby County, Texas. With Blanco Canyon, it is the type locality of the early Pleistocene Blanco Formation ...
References
External links
*
{{Borden County, Texas
Geology of Texas
Landforms of Borden County, Texas
Rock formations of Texas