Mount Bonnell

George W. Bonnell was a newspaperman before he was a soldier. A native of Onondaga County, New York, he edited papers in Alabama and at Columbus, Mississippi, and in 1836 brought a company of Columbus volunteers to Texas. He was a charter member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. As Houston's commissioner of Indian affairs he reported in 1838 on Mexican agents among the tribes and pressed for a harsh policy against them. In Austin he and Jacob Cruger became government printers in 1839, and in 1840 he printed his Topographical Description of Texas.

What the plaque says

Mount Bonnell Rising 775 feet above sea level, this limestone height was named for George W. Bonnell, who came to Texas with others to fight for Texas independence, 1836. Was commissioner of Indian Affairs in Republic of Texas under president Sam Houston. Moved in 1839 to Austin; there published the "Texas Sentinel", 1840. Member Texan-Santa Fe expedition, 1841. Was captured but released in time to join Mier expedition, 1842. Was killed in camp on Rio Grande, Dec, 26, 1842. Frontiersman W.A.A. "Bigfoot" Wallace killed an Indian he met face to face while crossing a narrow ledge 50 feet above river, 1839. He also took refuge in a Mount Bonnell cave to recover from "flux", but was missing so long his sweetheart eloped. In the mid-1800s Mormons built a mill on the Colorado river at foot of Mount Bonnell. Mill was destroyed by flood and the Mormons moved on west. Mount Bonnell was site of picnics and outings in 1850s and 1860s. As it is today. Legend has it that an excursion to the place in the1850s inspired the popular song "Wait for the Wagon and We'll All Take a Ride". As a stunt in 1898, Miss Hazel Keyes slid down a cable stretched from the top of Mount Bonnell to south bank of then Lake McDonald below. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mount Bonnell — steps away
  Austin's old lookout over the Colorado, named by an 1838 traveler, picnicked on by George and Libbie Custer, and reached by a 1939 flight of about 100 limestone steps.
• Harry Ransom Center — 3.2 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 3.5 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 3.6 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• Major John B. Jones — 1.1 mi
• William Steele — 1.1 mi
• Texas in the Civil War - Federal Forces — 1.1 mi
• Texas in the Civil War - Adjutants General — 1.1 mi