Cale, Arkansas
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Caney Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71858. The Survey maps it on the Bluff City quadrangle. 73 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 335 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresCale fell from 75 to 73 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 75 | |
| 2010 | 79 | +4 (+5%) |
| 2020 | 73 | -6 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 16 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1901 USGS Gurdon quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Bluff City quadrangle1:24000
- 1978 USGS Chidester quadrangle1:62500
- 1986 USGS Hope quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
61 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Cale between 1997 and 2020, burning about 625 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 18 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 13 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 August 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Cale: 5 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E Ingram | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Mccrea Property | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Rosston Deposits | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unk | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unk | Iron | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cale in 3 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Tornado (EF2) | Cale | $250,000 | An EF2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 115 mph touched down late in the evening on March 14th, 2025, along County Road 2434 near the intersection with Highway 200 where damage to vegetation was noted, mainly in the form of large branches broken and a few uprooted trees. The tornado then continued northeast, causing more damage around the intersection of County Road 432 and County Road 45. Here, major loss of roof panels was noted on several small barns and outbuildings. The tornado then continued to track a few miles northeast, passing near Dills Mills and surrounding forested land before strengthening and passing along Highway 299, north of its intersection with County Road 47. This stretch of highway, between County Road 47 and County Road 423, featured extensive damage to trees, with numerous trees snapped and uprooted, some of which fell onto several homes. The tornado reached its peak intensity in this area, with winds speeds of around 115 mph. The tornado continued east/northeast across County Road 424 where more tree damage was found. The tornado's track would then end at White Oak Lake State Park where additional tree damage was found, causing all hiking trails in the park to be temporarily closed. The tornado may have continued briefly over White Oak Lake before lifting as it moved near the Ouachita County line. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Cale | - | no account filed |
| January 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cale | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Grove | 1.9 miles | 16 | |
| Rosston | 3.0 miles | 15 | |
| Morris | 3.0 miles | 16 | |
| New Mount Moriah (historical) | 3.4 miles | 15 | |
| Dills Mills | 3.4 miles | 16 | |
| Serepta Springs (historical) | 3.7 miles | 15 | |
| Ames | 3.8 miles | 16 | |
| Mount Moriah | 4.0 miles | 15 |
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.
| Wikipedia article on Cale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2186419 | The 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 57489. 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.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








