King Mountain

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about King Mountain, out in Upton County. Now, some places earn their names in ways that get written down clean and certain. And then some places earn their names the way this one probably did.

That word, probably, is right there on the marker, and I appreciate the honesty. The story goes that a rancher named Guy King drilled the first water well on top of this mountain, somewhere around 1900. Think about that for a moment.

Not at the base of the mountain, not nearby, not in the valley where sensible water-seekers tend to operate. On top. Three thousand feet of elevation, part of a great uplift sitting out in the southern Permian Basin, and Guy King looked up at it and said, that's where I'm puttin' my well.

Now the marker doesn't tell us whether he found what he was looking for, or how long it took, or what the view looked like from up there. It just tells us he did it, and that the mountain has carried his name ever since, more or less. Below the surface, this uplift is tied to the oil fields of Upton County, which is a whole other kind of treasure the earth was holdin' onto quietly.

And out along the Rim Rock, people have found many Indian relics over the years, silent evidence of other lives, other people who stood on this high ground long before Guy King showed up with his drill. Three thousand feet. One rancher with a purpose.

A mountain that kept the memory.

What the marker says

Probably named for Guy King, rancher who drilled first water well on top of mountain about 1900. Elevation is 3,000 feet. Part of an uplift in southern Permian Basin; associated with county oil fields. Many Indian relics have been found along the Rim Rock.