Mount Bonnell , also known as Covert Park, is a prominent point alongside the Lake Austin portion of the Colorado River in Austin, Texas. It has been a popular tourist destination since the 1850s. The mount provides a vista for viewing the city of Austin, Lake Austin, and the surrounding hills. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1969, bearing Marker number 6473, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Geography
Mount Bonnell is often described as the highest point in Austin, with the elevation at its peak about above mean sea level (AMSL). If Mount Bonnell ever held this distinction, it was only because the city limits did not include the next summit to the north, Mount Barker, which has an elevation of about above mean sea level. City of Austin records, however, indicate that the city annexed for "full purpose jurisdiction" both Mt. Bonnell and Mt. Barker as part of the same parcel "on or before" 1951; Mt. Bonnell entered the city limits with its higher neighbor, Mt. Barker. Many other areas now in the city of Austin are also higher than Mount Bonnell, but few publicly accessible spots offer such a sweeping view of the downtown area.
History
Mount Bonnell's Indian Trail
A historical marker was placed at Mount Bonnell in 1969 by State Historical Survey Committee. The marker reads:
Years after Bigfoot Wallace's refuge in the cave on Mount Bonnell, when asked why he had chosen the cave as a refuge, he responded "Well the cave was right on the old Indian trail leading down to Austin ... and besides, the cave was in the best hunting ground for bear in all this country.."
Julia Lee Sinks
Julia L. Sinks, author and historian, was an early settler to Austin, arriving in the spring of 1840. Before meeting and marrying George Sinks, chief clerk of the Post Office Department during the Republic years, she lived on West Pecan, present day 6th street, and later wrote "Our home was on the beaten track of the Indians into town from the pass of Mount Bonnell. The knolls beyond the quarry branch were interspersed with timber, and sometimes though not often, we would see galloping past the open spaces beyond the blanketed Indian. The path along the quarry branch, secluded as it was, became their main inlet to the town. It was a sheltered road, never traveled at night by whites, so the Indians claimed right of way, and all full moons brought moccasin tracks in abundance".
Abduction of Simpson Children
If Mount Bonnell was on an Indian trail into Austin, it was also a trail out, as illustrated in another story included in Wilbarger's book, Indian Depredations of Texas. In 1842, a Mrs. Simpson living on that very same street as Julia Lee Sinks, West Pecan, about three blocks west of Congress, had two children – a daughter 14, a son 12—abducted by Indians while the children were in the adjacent "valley" (Shoal Creek). Wilbarger says that at that time there were no houses there. The Indians "seized the children, mounted their horses and made off for the mountains going in the direction of Mt. Bonnell". A posse was raised and gave pursuit. Wilbarger then says "At one time the citizens came within sight of the redskins just before reaching Mt. Bonnell, but the Indians, after arriving at the place, passed on just beyond to the top of the mountain, which being rocky, the citizens lost the trail and were never able to find where the savages went down the mountain". The Simpson girl was killed, but the boy survived and was later "traded off to some Indian traders, who returned him to his mother". It is because the boy survived and was returned home that we know what happened after the posse lost the trail of the Indians on Mount Bonnell. From Mt. Bonnell they stopped at Spicewood Springs, "which is situated in the edge of the mountains". This is where the Simpson girl was killed. Spicewood Springs is located about 5 miles north of Mount Bonnell, at the present day intersections of Mopac Expressway and Spicewood Springs Road.