Glass Mountains
Coordinates: 36°21′13″N 98°35′05″W / 36.3536464°N 98.5848045°W The Glass Mountains or Gloss Mountains are a series of mesas and buttes that extend from the Permian red beds of the Blaine Escarpment of northwestern Oklahoma in Major County. The Glass Mountains stretch west along US Highway 412 from Orienta south of the Cimarron River. The name comes from the sparkling selenite crystals on the slopes and tops of the mesas.
In 1875, a transcription error by a mapmaker resulted in the name Gloss Mountains which is still a somewhat common name for the mountains.[1]
The state of Oklahoma operates a state park six miles west of Orienta on a mesa along Highway 412. The park allows climbers to hike to the top of the mesa via a path and stairs. Picnic tables have been installed, and a pond known as Rattlesnake Lake is nearby. The park was the site of an 05/04/2011 FBI shooting where the suspect in a 2010 Jacksonville, Florida mosque bombing was shot by the FBI after pulling a weapon on them while they tried to arrest him. [2]
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Glass Mountain, capped with massive gypsum, Major County, Oklahoma. (USGS photo by George Irving Adams, 1900)[3]
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Glass Mountains seen from the top of a mesa at Glass Mountains State Park (2007)
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Glass or Gloss Mountains descriptive tablet (2005)
[edit] References
- ^ Burchardt, Bill. 1970. The Glass Mountains: Our Treasure in Trust. Oklahoma Today 21(1):29-38.
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20060537-504083.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
- ^ Adams, George Irving. 1904. Gypsum deposits in the United States. U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 223, 129 pp. (Plate 15-A)
[edit] External links
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