{{Short description|Mountain in Texas, United States}} {{Distinguish|Duffy Peak}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Duffy's Peak | image = Duffy's_Peak_Garza_County_Texas.jpg | image_caption = Duffy's Peak viewed from the Salt Fork. | image_size = 350 | elevation_ft = 2503 | elevation_ref = | prominence_ft = 58 | prominence_ref = | map = Texas | map_caption = | label = Duffy's Peak | label_position = right | location = Location in West Texas | coordinates = {{coord|33|21|29|N|101|20|32|W|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = | topo = Cap Rock SE | type = Butte | age = Cretaceous, Triassic }} '''Duffy's Peak''' is a small hill or butte near the Salt Fork Brazos River in Garza County, Texas. Duffy's Peak extends less than {{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=on}} above the river, yet despite its small size, it served as an important landmark for early surveyors of the region and is said to be named for a member of the original survey team who died and was buried nearby in the late 1870s.<ref name=handbook>{{cite web| url= http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rjd30| title= Duffy's Peak |work= Handbook of Texas Online| accessdate=November 2, 2012|author= Anonymous}}</ref>
Duffy's Peak is located in the rolling plains to the south and east of the Caprock Escarpment of the Llano Estacado. The soils of the area are moderately deep silt loams that support mesquite, yucca, cacti, and grasses.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX169/0/Garza.pdf| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170121023037/https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/texas/TX169/0/Garza.pdf| url-status= dead| archive-date= January 21, 2017| title= Soil Survey of Garza County, Texas| work= | date= 1975| author= United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service}}</ref> The local terrain is eroded, cut by highly intermittent streams such as the Salt Fork Brazos River, and its tributaries, such as McDonald Creek and Lake Creek. These streams typically flow only during periods of heavy rainfall, when flash floods sweep through the area. The erosionally resistant sandstones of the peak's cap have protected underlying soils that have remained intact, while surrounding sediments have eroded away. As a result of this process, Duffy's Peak now stands out as a small but relatively prominent landmark that can be seen from a significant distance.
In 1969, the Texas Historical Commission erected a historical marker for Duffy's Peak along Texas State Highway 207.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.stoppingpoints.com/texas/sights.cgi?marker=Duffy%27s+Peak&cnty=garza| title= Duffy's Peak - Post, Garza County, Texas| work= StoppingPoints| accessdate= September 14, 2017| author= Anonymous}}</ref>
==See also== *Double Mountain Fork Brazos River *Mount Blanco *Mushaway Peak *Kiowa Peak
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{URL|www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rjd30|Handbook of Texas: Duffy's Peak}} *{{url|https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/lubbock-tx/cropping-systems-research-laboratory/wind-erosion-and-water-conservation-research/docs/rp/|Public domain images of the Rolling Plains of West Texas}}
{{Garza County, Texas}}
Category:Geology of Texas Category:Landforms of Garza County, Texas Category:Rock formations of Texas