Rattlesnake Butte took its name from wildlife seen there in 1919 by students and professors of the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology while they were mapping county resources. This meandering formation, about 2,600 feet in elevation, and nearby formations are part of the central basin platform, represented by remnants of thick layers of lower cretaceous sedimentary rock that once extended across the entire county. Limestone sections that resisted erosion now form the tops of Upton County’s buttes, hills, and mesas, and these geologic formations reflect the area’s ideal conditions for oil and gas production.