Big Bend Real Estate Guide February 2020 | Page 12

Mitre Peak
The History of
by Kleo Belay
In a landscape filled with prominent landmarks and signature
geological formations, Mitre Peak rises like a beacon. A term used for a
bishop’s hat or a carving tool bearing the same distinctive shape, Mitre
presides over the landscape between Alpine and Fort Davis, its
precipitous and symmetrical walls rising to meet at one distinctive
point. Like a sentinel it draws one’s eye and curiosity while passing
through the broad landscape of North Brewster and South Jeff Davis
Counties, its story and history as profound as its presence.
Mitre Peak in Early Light by Robert Haspel
Known by geologists as a monadnock
or inselberg, Mitre Peak formed as a
volcanic intrusion that never reached
the earth's surface. Millions of years
ago, what is now the highest point of
Mitre Peak sat beneath layers of
sedimentary and metamorphic rock,
which after years of exposure to wind
and rain eroded away to expose the
harder and more stable igneous rock of
Mitre Mountain. These exposed forms
are often conical or dome-shaped,
another example being Hen Egg
Mountain in South Brewster County.
The isolated rock formation rising
from a level plain makes Mitre Peak a
natural landmark. As long as human
beings have traveled through this
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desert landscape, for thousands of
years before recorded history, Mitre
Peak would have been a focal point. Its
distinctive shape not only served as a
familiar point in orienting through a
vast country, but also as an indicator
for prehistoric man’s most precious
resource, water.
Several springs exist in the small
canyons adjacent to Mitre Peak. The
abundance of water in an environment
where water is scarce would have made
the area around Mitre a natural camp
or settlement for early man. In the
1927 Brand, the Sul Ross yearbook
written by students, a chapter on Mitre
Peak and nearby Fern Canyon
describes the area adjacent to the peak
as having been one of the largest
"Indian villages in West Texas." The
short chapter also claims that "neatly
laid-off streets have been ploughed up,
and fragments of rock terraces stand in
a semi-circle facing a big spring." The
1927 Brand also claims the existence of
a "Chief’s grave, which yielded
valuable relics—beads and finely
wrought arrowheads." The area was a
popular picnic spot for Sul Ross
students during that time, and
students likely spent many days
exploring the area and sharing stories.
Another pre-historic grave site was
claimed to have been found in the cliffs
of what is now a part of the Girl Scout
Camp. One member of summer camp
Big Bend Real Estate Guide • February 2020