Sierra Diablo

Sierra Diablo
Sierra Diablo range with eponymous ranch marker in the foreground
Highest point
Elevation	6,610 ft (2,010 m)[1]
Dimensions
Length	43 mi (69 km)[2]: 1
Width	33 mi (53 km)[2]: 1
Naming
Etymology	Spanish for "devil mountain range"
Geography
Sierra Diablo Location in Texas
Country	United States
States	Texas
Range coordinates	31°25′00″N 104°54′00″W

The Sierra Diablo is a small mountain range in the US state of Texas, extending north and south along the border between Hudspeth and Culberson counties.[3] It is in the Chihuahuan Desert, and is near Van Horn, Texas.

Geography

The Sierra Diablo are a high mountainous plateau in West Texas. The highest peak in the range is 6,610 feet in elevation.[1] The surface of the range slopes gently westward from its crest, but to the east, north, and south there are abrupt escarpments as high as 2,000 feet.[2]: 1 

The range contains the Sierra Diablo Wildlife Management Area, designated in 1945 to conserve the last remaining desert bighorn sheep in Texas.[3]

The highest peak in the range is known as Diablo Rim.[4]

Geology

The oldest rocks of the region, exposed in the southern foothills, date from the Precambrian. The most extensively exposed rocks in the Sierra Diablo date from the Permian period, and are about 3,000 feet thick. They consist mostly of Hueco, Bone Spring and Victorio Peak limestones. The range was given its present form and outlines by Cenozoic era geologic events.[2]: 1–2 

Copper and silver have been mined in the region. Tungsten and beryllium are present in small amounts. Groundwater is scarce.[2]: 2 

History

Indigenous Lipan Apache people of the region were driven away and killed in the Battle of the Diablo Mountains in 1854 under the command of John George Walker. A last conflict of the Texas–Indian wars took place at Sierra Diablo in 1880, with Apache under the command of Victorio versus Texas Rangers under George W. Baylor. The site of the battle is now named Victorio Peak.[2]: 16 

Dead bodies of two women were discovered in the mountains in 1938. The unsolved murders have been attributed by a reporter to a ring of Nazi spies operating in America.[5]

A portion of the range is owned by Jeff Bezos, where a project known as Clock of the Long Now is being built inside a mountain.[6]

References

1. "Sierra Diablo". Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
2. King, Phillip B. (1965). Geology of the Sierra Diablo Region Texas (PDF) (Report). United States Department of the Interior. Geological Survey Professional Paper 480. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
3. "Sierra Diablo WMA". Texas Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
4. "Diablo Rim TX". Retrieved August 20, 2021.
5. Richmond, Clint (2014). Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America. ForeEdge. ISBN 9781611685343.
6. Delbert, Caroline (April 27, 2020). "Jeff Bezos Is Building a 10,000-Year Clock Inside a Mountain". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved August 19, 2020.