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The Glass Mountains (also known as Gloss Mountains or Gloss Hills) are not actually mountains, but a series of mesas and that are part of the Blaine Escarpment that extends from the Permian red beds of northwestern Oklahoma in Major County. The Glass Mountains rise to above the surface of the plains, and the highest elevation in the formation is about above sea level. The Glass Mountains stretch west along U.S. Route 412 from Orienta south of the Cimarron River. McPhail, Melanie L. and Richard A. Marston. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Glass Mountains." Retrieved March 5, 2015. The name comes from the sparkling selenite crystals on the slopes and tops of the mesas.
The next layer was formed during the Permian Period, which occurred 230 to 270 million years ago. This consists of red sandstone and shale which is to thick, with gypsum on the outcroppings. The Permian "redbeds" are subdivided into the Cimarronian Series (2850 feet) at the base, overlain by the Custerian Series (400 feet, top eroded). Deposits of Flowerpot shale ( to ) that consists mainly of red-brown illitic-chloritic shale, are found at this area.
The region became part of the Cherokee Outlet during the 19th Century. In 1891, botanist George Walter Stevens, started collecting specimens in the Glass Mountains domain for his dissertation. The University of Oklahoma Bebb Herbarium holds 4,500 samples that Stevens collected statewide. Two cacti he may have collected in the Glass Mountains area are Echinocereus caespitosus and Opuntia phaecantha.
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