Study Butte

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Study Butte is a census-designated place in southern Brewster County in the western US state of Texas . The place was named after Doctor Will Study, who opened up the surrounding mercury deposits around 1900. Before the 2010 census, Study Butte and Terlingua formed a joint census-designated place.

geography

Study Butte is located at the confluence of Farmroad 170 with Texas State Highway 118 about six kilometers from the western entrance to Big Bend National Park , eight kilometers east of Terlingua and 126 kilometers south of Alpine, Texas . The place is 781 meters above sea level, its area covers 12.3 square kilometers and with 233 inhabitants (2010) has a population density of 18.9 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The climate is a subtropical desert climate, it is dry, 25 rainy days with a total of 232 mm of precipitation per year, and hot, the average daily maximum temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, in the months May to August the average daily maximum temperature is over 35 degrees.

The ground is stony and the vegetation consists of brush and grass.

history

Around 1900 the industrial development of the mercury deposits in the area of ​​what is now Study Butte and Terlingua began, with the population remaining low. In 1940, when the Rainbow Mercury Mine was the largest employer in town, the population consisted of just 40 people. The place had its own school and general store. The place experienced a modest economic boom during World War II, but the mine had to close at the end of the 1940s due to falling demand for mercury. In the following two decades the population dropped to ten to fifteen. When the Diamond Shamrock Corporation put the mine back into operation in 1970, the population rose to over 100. But just two years later the mine had to be abandoned for economic reasons. In the meantime, Study Butt had developed into a modest tourist center because of its location at the western end of Big Bend National Park. The population was 120 in 1990 and rose to 267 by 2000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Data from Weatherbase
  2. ↑ More precise climate data from the "Desert Research Institute" of the "Western Regional Climate Center"
  3. ^ Study Butte at TSHA Online
  4. ↑ Kohout, Martin Donell: `` Study Butte, Tx '' . In: Handbook of Texas, published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Coordinates: 29 ° 20 ′  N , 103 ° 33 ′  W