DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Mushaway Peak has to say — and friend, it's got plenty to say. Out in Borden County, there's a peak that has gone by more names than most folks have had hot meals. Maps over the years have called it Mucha Que, Mucha Kowa, Muchakooga, de Cordova, and signal hill.
Today we call it Mushaway Peak, and whatever name you hang on it, the thing rises up to two thousand eight hundred and sixty-two feet — enough to see you comin' from a long, long way off. That name, Mushaway, has its roots in Native American origin, and this peak earned every syllable of it. Now here's where the story starts to breathe.
About 1872, that peak wasn't just a landmark — it was a meeting place. Right there at its base sat a village where Apaches and Comanches traded with Comancheros, men who worked the trade routes linked all the way to markets in New Mexico. Think about that for a second.
Two mighty nations of the plains, and the traders who connected them to a whole separate world, all converging in the shadow of this one peak. But the mid-1870s brought a different kind of visitor. U.S.
Army expeditions came through, their mission to contain the last Native Americans on the plains. Those soldiers pushed through and explored much of the surrounding country, and through all of it, Mushaway Peak stood there — a fixed point in a land that was changin' fast and hard. It was a landmark for Native Americans, for buffalo hunters, for those soldiers, and for surveyors tryin' to make sense of the terrain.
Then the 1880s rolled in, and with them came ranchers, movin' cattle down into the Mushaway Valley below. They held a general roundup there each year — neighbors and cowboys converging on the same valley that had drawn traders, soldiers, and hunters before them. Some places just have a pull to them.
Mushaway Peak had it in 1872. It had it in the mid-1870s. It had it in the 1880s.
And standin' out there in Borden County today, two thousand eight hundred and sixty-two feet of it, it's still got it.
What the marker says
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.