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In 1909 a two-teacher school was built but no population count is available for
the community. It’s reported that Mount Pleasant had a church, school, and “a
number of scattered dwellings” in 1940. Today only the scattered dwellings remain
– and the fortress-like Castle Peak.
Photographer’s
Note:
“As you can see there is not much here but from the THC markers
it is evident that there once was. I visited with a man for a few moments and
he told me that he had been told that there was once a school here but didn’t
know anything else about the history of the town.” – Gerald
Massey, July 2010 |
Windmill and Cactus in Mount Pleasant
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, June 2010 |
Castle Peak & Indina Fight Historical Markers in Mount Pleasant
Photo courtesy
Gerald Massey,
June 2010 |
Historical
Marker Text: Castle
PeakThe 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) |
 |
Historical
Marker Text: Vicinity
of Indian FightOn
New Year's Day, 1871, Indian raiders who had stolen horses in Coleman County were
pursued and overtaken here by 18 Texas Rangers and cowboys. Leaders of the group
were Captain James. M. Swisher and rancher Sam Gholson.
The Indians took
refuge in the heights west of Mountain Pass. The ensuing battle lasted all day,
and at nightfall the raiders left the horses and fled.
Of the fewer than
one dozen Indians, one was killed, several wounded. One cowboy was wounded and
another, J. M. Elkins, recorded the battle in his book, "Indian Fighting on the
Texas Frontier."
(1968) |
1940s
Taylor County map showing Merkel
(Above "T"
in "T-A-Y-L-O-R")
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
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