Copper Breaks State Park
state park in Texas, United States
Copper Breaks State Park is a state park in Hardeman County, Texas, United States managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The park covers 1,898.8 acres (768.4 ha) and opened in 1974.
History
The red-brown and green-gray mudstone visible in the landforms was laid down roughly 200–250 million years old when the area was an inland seabed. Erosion changed the level plains into rough badlands. The green-gray deposits contain raw copper, but none is mined within the park. Commercial attempts at mining the copper in the 1800s were not successful.
Originally, Copper Breaks was part of the land held by the Comanche and Kiowa. Comanche mound sites can be found in Hardeman County, but not in the park itself. From the late 1940s and through the 1960s, the Gosage family owned the land and let the community use it for recreational use. In the 1970s, The State of Texas purchased the property and it was opened in stages by the TPWD between 1972 and 1974.
The public source identifies “Copper Breaks State Park” as state park in Texas, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Copper, Breaks and State.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Copper Breaks State Park”, the useful work is to connect “state park in Texas, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5168694. Authority coordinates are 34.111, -99.752. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974 and 1972.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Copper Breaks State Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Copper Breaks State Park primary sources, Copper Breaks State Park archive and Copper research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Copper Breaks State Park”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Copper Breaks State Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.