Elevation 2580+ feet (786+ m) Topo map USGS Double Mountains | Prominence 540 ft (160 m) Mountain type Erosional remnant | |
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Parent range Plains of Central Texas Similar | ||
Double Mountains is the name of a pair of flat-topped buttes located 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Aspermont in Stonewall County, Texas. While the Handbook of Texas gives their elevation as either 2,000 ft (610 m) or 2,400 ft (732 m), United States Geological Survey maps give the elevation of the western mountain as 2,523 ft (769 m) and that of the eastern mountain as between 2,580 ft (786 m) and 2,600 ft (792 m). Together, the mountains form part of the high ground dividing the watersheds of the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork Brazos River.
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Map of Double Mountains, Texas 79546, USA
Rising some 500–800 feet (150–250 m) above the surrounding plains, the higher eastern mountain is the highest point in Stonewall County and the most topographically prominent point for almost 160 miles (257 km), 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 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 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 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 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 MountainEdit
A town of Double Mountain once existed a few miles north of the hills. Established in 1886, the community featured a post office, sheriff, schoolhouse, and Methodist and Baptist churches for several years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but had become a ghost town by the 1980s.