Details for Castle Peak

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5441000756

Data

Marker Number 756
Atlas Number 5441000756
Marker Title Castle Peak
Index Entry Castle Peak
Address FM 1235, S of Merkel
City Merkel
County Taylor
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 408571
UTM Northing 3584851
Subject Codes geology; roads
Marker Year 1968
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location From Merkel, take FM 1235 south about 7 miles.
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 18" x 28"
Marker Text The Butterfield Overland Mail, the first public transportation facility spanning the area from the Mississippi to the Pacific with passenger and mail service, 1858-61, used the 2400-foot peak to the northeast as a beacon. The drivers and passengers viewed it for 30 to 40 miles. In that era it was called Abercrombie Peak, for Colonel J. J. Abercrombie of the U.S. Army, active in defense of this frontier. Waterman Ormsby, a newspaper reporter riding the first Butterfield Stage to pass this way, noted that the peak resembled a fortress. Later the height was renamed Castle Peak. (1968)

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