Rattlesnake Butte was named for wildlife seen here in 1919 by students and professors of the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, who were working to map county resources. A meandering formation, approximately 2,600 feet in elevation, the butte and other nearby formations are part of the Central Basin Platform, which is represented by remnants of thick layers of Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock that formerly extended across the entire county. The sections of limestone that have resisted erosion form the tops of Upton County's buttes, hills, and mesas. The geologic formations represent the area's ideal formations for the production of oil and gas. (1967, 2010)