Packsaddle Mountain (Llano County, Texas)

Named after the saddle-like appearance provided by twin peaks, Packsaddle Mountain is an Austin, Texas area land mark that stands five miles southwest of Kingsland in eastern Llano County (at 30°37' N, 98°30' W) and is of interest to both historians and geologists.

Famous for the region’s last battle with Indians in 1873, it is thought that the Spanish mined the mountain for gold prior to the Texas Revolution and that it was the site of Los Almagres, Jim Bowie’s famous lost mine. Prospectors searched the area as late as the 1920s. Intriguing traces of gold, silver and other minerals have been reported in the sands of Honey Creek and the mountainside.

Prospecting on Packsaddle Mountain renewed interest in gold mining in Llano County in the 1920s, but with no lasting result. At an elevation of 1,628 feet, the higher of the two summits rises 650 feet above U.S. Highway 71. Local topography ranges from flat to rolling to steep, with local escarpments, covered with soils ranging from shallow and stony to deep, fine, sandy loams. Vegetation consists primarily of open stands of live oak and Ashe juniper.

A historical landmark, the mountain was the site of the Packsaddle Mountain Fight with Indians on August 4, 1873, and was the last major Indian battle in the area. The Fight on Packsaddle Mountain was precipitated when a cow on the Moss Ranch (in what is now Llano County) came into the ranch house with an arrow sticking out of its side. A party of eight ranchers, including W.B. Moss and his two brothers, was raised to pursue the Indians. They found some twenty one Indians encamped on Packsaddle Mountain. In the ensuing fight at least three Indians were killed and three ranchers wounded.