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Metcalf Gap is a pass through the Palo Pinto Mountains in western Palo Pinto County, Texas. The bluffs of the mountains form an escarpment running southwest to northeast, intersected by the Gap, and rise some 250–300 feet (75–90 m) above the pastures to the southeast. The pass itself lies at an elevation of about 1,200 feet (370 m). US 180 and SH 16, which are concurrent at this point, run east–west through the pass; immediately to the east of the pass, SH 16 splits off toward Strawn and runs southwest parallel to the line of hills.
Map of Metcalf Gap, Texas 76475, USA
For about 100 years from 1856 through the 1950s, there was a small community serving the ranchers in the area that shared its name with the pass; as recently as 1940 the town included a store, a school, and a population of forty. Both the town and the pass were named for J.J. Metcalf, an early rancher and surveyor, who surveyed, among other things, the townsite of county seat Golconda, now known as Palo Pinto. Today, only isolated ranch houses stand on the pastures outside Metcalf Gap.