Huerfano Butte


The butte stands 300-foot high like a lone sentinel in the arid scrubland. It’s visible for miles from any direction and served as a landmark for early explorers, signaling the route to life-giving rivers that flowed from the nearby Rocky Mountains.

Huerfano Butte is so striking that noted land surveyor General John Fremont suggested that his stepfather, a wealthy railroad baron, construct his railroad track in the butte’s shadow so passengers could enjoy its uniqueness. The butte also attracted profiteers who built a fort and then a small settlement nearby.

When viewed from a distance, Huerfano Butte appears to be a volcanic neck, but there is no evidence that the magmas associated with Huerfano Butte vented to the surface. However, it is a plug of alkali basalt as it was cut by two subsequent intrusions of monzonite and alkali-lamprophyre.