Barry Scobee Mountain

Duane's take

The official marker for Barry Scobee Mountain tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Six thousand three hundred feet above sea level, out in Jeff Davis County, there's a mountain that carries a man's name, and the story of how it got that name is worth every mile of road it takes to reach it. Now, before it was anybody's mountain, this place was a waypoint.

From the 1850s through the 1880s, that high ground served as campsite and lookout post, military units, mail coaches, freighters, travelers, emigrants. Anybody moving through the Trans-Pecos passed near that elevation and was glad for it. And in 1881, this site witnessed the last Indian raid in the area.

Whatever came before, whatever came after, that moment closes a chapter in West Texas history right up on that ridge. The mountain sits as part of the John G. Prude Ranch.

But the name it carries, that belongs to a man named Barry Scobee. Here's the thing about Barry Scobee. He was born in Missouri in 1885.

He served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines. He sailed as a merchant seaman in World War II.

The man was editor, reporter, printer, publisher, he wore every hat in the press room before the ink was dry on the last one. Then in 1917, he came to Fort Davis. And Fort Davis, you might say, found exactly the right keeper.

Scobee became an authority and writer on Trans-Pecos history, the kind of writer who doesn't just chronicle a place but fights for it. His efforts were largely responsible for the preservation of old Fort Davis. That's not a small thing.

Preservation is an argument you have to keep winning, year after year, against time and neglect and indifference. On December 21st, 1964, Governor John Connally made it official, he named the mountain for Barry Scobee. A Missouri-born soldier, sailor, printer, and historian walked into Fort Davis in 1917, and decades later a mountain stood up and took his name.

That's as West Texas an ending as any story's got a right to.

What the marker says

(6300 ft. elev.) Camp grounds and lookout post (1850s-1880s) for military, mail coaches, freighters, travelers, emigrants. Site of area's last Indian raid, 1881. Part of John G. Prude Ranch. Named by Gov. John Connally Dec. 21, 1964, to honor Barry Scobee whose efforts were largely responsible for the preservation of old Fort Davis. He was born, 1885, in Missouri. Served in U. S. Army in Philippines and later on merchant ship in World War II. Was editor, reporter, printer, publisher. Came to Fort Davis in 1917 and became an authority and writer on Trans-Pecos history. (Fort Davis Historical society)