As a boy I remember the large "Welcome Sign" you could see from miles East of town that sat on the front of the mountain and behind the historic Baker Hotel. Moved to East Mountain where it sits today but to me and perhaps others, the mountain of my youth will always be known as Welcome Mountain. Stories tell that this sign gave Cecil DeMille the idea for the Hollywood sign in California.
I can't recall if I was nine or ten years old my when dad would take to the precipice to look out on my home town and see the lighted Christmas Tree during the holiday season. I think the Welcome sign was lighted in those days but started to become neglected and was salvaged and moved to the next Mountain.
My sisters and I would often climb that hill, we lived there on top when I was about thirteen years old. I had read stories where a stage coach had been robbed and it's gold had been hidden in a cave along side the hill. One cave a few feet away was a large rock with a lizard carved in it we called 'lizard rock'. I wonder if either the rock or the cave is still there. I remember back in the 60's stories of Hippies living in a cave on one of the mountains.
Going back to the start of the last century there was a brick burro trail along the West side of Welcome Mountain. It was a well known tourist attraction that I imagine many of the bricks that make it still lay among a over growth of weeds & prickly pear cactus. The lizard rock I refer to is just off this trail. I'm not sure where all the bricks were made but imagine many were made in Mineral Wells and near by towns. People from all over the World came to Mineral Wells visiting for it's healing waters would take excursions on donkey's up this hill for views of the town and perhaps a sack lunch, maybe even stolen kisses and proposals of love.
Recently I went back for my high school reunion and I did a little looking around on Welcome Mountain. The road going up the mountain next to the old USO Club revealed a log cabin of some considerable age in the woods off the road. As many times I explored this mountain I never remember finding this place. The gate is locked and no trespassing sign warns against entry but I have to wonder what is the history behind this dwelling and when was it built. 11/11/2016 I talk with former Boy Scout member Brian Bennett of Bennett Printing. He said the log cabin was used when he was a boy by the Girl Scouts as a meeting or camping place. He is unaware of when it was built or any details. Bennett Printing today is where you turn to go up Welcome Mountain and was the location back somewhere between 1910-1915 as a Silent Movie theater on North Oak.
Welcome Mountain today is pretty well hard to hike as it is either blocked off or over grown with Mesquite Trees, Cactus and other unfriendly protectors. Still I would love to walk it once more, aside from inside my dreams.
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