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Wills Valley, Alabama

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Fort Payne census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35968. It lies near Railroad Valley. The Survey maps it on the Fort Payne quadrangle.

Wills Valley within DeKalb County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 23 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

108 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 108 fires within 5 miles of Wills Valley between 1997 and 2020, burning about 994 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning37
Arson/incendiarism36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined31
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2010Debris and open burning20 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
3 September 2016Debris and open burning2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160903-1
24 September 2019Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190924-11
23 September 2016Debris and open burning20 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160923-5
22 September 2016Debris and open burning25 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160922-7
16 September 1998Smoking4.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
15 September 1999Smoking12 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
11 September 1999Arson/incendiarism25 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in DeKalb County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 22 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Wills Valley: 8 past producers, 8 occurrences, 3 prospects, 2 unknowns. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Kaolin, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ladd MineClay, Fullers EarthPast Producer
Browder MineKaolinPast Producer
Dek 4 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Dek 5 Clay ProspectClayProspect
Fort Payne QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
New Ladd MineKaolinPast Producer
Pearsall QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed ProspectAluminumOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectAluminumOccurrence
Allen ProspectIronOccurrence

Every working recorded in DeKalb County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Minvale1.3 miles23
Rawlingsville (historical)1.4 miles23
Fort Payne2.3 miles23
Blake2.9 miles22
Lakewood3.5 miles22
Fisher Crossroads3.6 miles23
Douglas3.6 miles23
Pine Ridge4.6 miles21

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122571087The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 157266. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.