Mushaway Peak
Gail, Borden County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Shown on maps as Mucha Que, Mucha Kowa, Muchakooga, de Cordova, or signal hill, this peak rises to an elevation of 2862 feet. Its name is of Native American origin. About 1872, it was the site of a village where Apaches and Comanches traded with Comancheros linked to markets in New Mexico. In the mid-1870s, U.s. army expeditions sought to contain the last Native Americans on the plains. These soldiers explored much of the surrounding area. Mushaway Peak was a landmark for Native Americans, buffalo hunters, soldiers and surveyors. In the 1880s, ranchers began grazing cattle in the Mushaway Valley, where they held a general roundup each year.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Rising to 2,862 feet on the West Texas plains, Mushaway Peak has carried many spellings and long served as a landmark of Native American origin. Around 1872 a village near here was a trading point where Apaches and Comanches dealt with Comancheros tied to New Mexico's markets. As U.S. Army expeditions swept the region in the mid-1870s to force the last free bands onto reservations, the peak guided soldiers, buffalo hunters, and surveyors alike — before cattlemen claimed the valley in the 1880s.
Why it matters
The peak stands as a landmark of the closing frontier, where the Comanche and Apache trade economy gave way to the U.S. Army and the open-range cattle ranchers who followed.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Brazos River in Justiceburg
Justiceburg, TX
The stretch of the Brazos River near Justiceburg has drawn people for centuries, and the marker traces the river's many names across cultures — the Caddoan "Tokonohono," La Salle's "Malingne," and "La Trinidad" recorded by Spanish expeditions in 1716. Legends of parched travelers, from Coronado's men onward, finding lifesaving water gave rise to the enduring name Los Brazos de Dios, "the arms of God." Fresh water and the arrival of the Santa Fe railroad in 1910 spurred the town of Justiceburg, named for rancher Jefferson Davis Justice, who donated the townsite.
Home County of Famous Frontiersman J. Wright Mooar
Snyder, TX
A Vermont native who came west at nineteen, J. Wright Mooar became one of the most prolific buffalo hunters of the American plains, establishing with his brother the first hunting camp in the Texas Panhandle in 1873. In 1876 he killed a rare albino buffalo in Scurry County, a hide later displayed at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Over his career he shot some 22,000 buffalo and earned the respect of Comanche chief Quanah Parker, who became his friend in later years.
Llano Estacado
Post, TX
The Cap Rock Escarpment marks the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado, or "Staked Plains," one of the world's flattest and most complete plains regions, sloping upward from Texas into New Mexico. Shaped by ancient erosion of tough caliche caprock, it was crossed in 1541 by Coronado, whose expedition marveled at an endless sea of grass. Long shunned for its scarcity of water, the Llano later supported a great ranching empire and became a leading cotton and grain region.
Witness Tree
Snyder, TX
The hackberry stump across the street once served as a "witness tree" in the land surveys that carved up the West Texas frontier. Under Texas custom rooted in Spanish law, boundaries were fixed by natural and man-made witnesses and measured in varas and leagues, with grantees formally taking possession by shouting, throwing stones, and firing guns. When this land was first surveyed in 1873 for a railroad, it was still hostile country; surveyors worked with rifles on their shoulders, and only after buffalo hunters and Gen. Ranald Mackenzie's cavalry had cleared the plains did settlement follow.