Double Mountains is the name of a pair of flat-topped
butte
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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 tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
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 general ...
.
While the ''
Handbook of Texas'' gives their elevation as either
or ,
[ ]United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
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 watersheds 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 Fork ...
.[ the higher eastern mountain is the highest point in Stonewall County][ and the most topographically prominent point for almost , the nearest more prominent peak being Mount Scott in Oklahoma. 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
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
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to Santa Fe; thereafter, the mountains were waymarkers "for every westward expedition and a rendezvous for buffalo 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 p ...
in 1849.[
Although paved roads do not lead directly to the mountains, they are accessible via paved ]Farm to Market Roads
In the United States, a farm-to-market road or ranch-to-market road (sometimes farm road or ranch road for short) is a state highway or county road that connects rural or agricultural areas to market towns. These are better quality roads, usually ...
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 highway department. Route numbering can ...
; 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 leader ]Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (Comanche ''kwana'', "smell, odor") ( – 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 Kwah ...
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 letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
, sheriff, schoolhouse, and Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
and Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
churches for several years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but had become a ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
by the 1980s.[
]
See also
* Blanco Canyon
* Brazos River
*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 Fork ...
*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 is ...
*Geography of Texas
The geography of Texas is diverse and large. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded ...
*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 tecton ...
*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 the ...
*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 For ...
*Rath City, Texas
Rath City was a frontier town that existed for fewer than five years, and is now a ghost town. The town was located on the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River, 14 miles northwest of Hamlin in southern Stonewall County, Texas, United States.
History ...
*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 arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.
No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...
*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 maj ...
References
External links
Handbook of Texas Online — Double Mountain
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Landforms of Stonewall County, Texas
Mountains of Texas
Buttes of the United States