Blackwater, Arizona
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Gila River census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85128. The Survey maps it on the Blackwater quadrangle. 1,190 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,381 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresBlackwater grew from 504 to 1,190 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 | 504 | |
| 2010 | 1,062 | +558 (+111%) |
| 2020 | 1,190 | +128 (+12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 17 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.
- 1907 USGS Sacaton quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Blackwater quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS Blackwater quadrangle1:24000
- 1994 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
447 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 447 fires within 5 miles of Blackwater between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,819 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 53 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 267 |
| Debris and open burning | 91 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 53 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Pima Agency | NO CLEMENT |
| 8 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Pima Agency | BH20SCH.RD |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Pima Agency | COTTON |
| 6 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Pima Agency | CHARLEY |
| 6 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Pima Agency | BLKWATERII |
| 6 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Pima Agency | BLKWATER I |
| 27 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Pima Agency | BROKENBRDG |
| 26 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Pima Agency | RIVER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Blackwater: 12 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Gold, Molybdenum, Copper, Lead, Silver, Tungsten. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F M Jackson Property | Gold, Molybdenum, Copper, Lead, Silver, Tungsten | Occurrence | ||
| Stone Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Coolidge Pit & Plant #7380 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sand and Gravel Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sand and Gravel | |
| Sand and Gravel Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sand and Gravel | |
| Sand and Gravel Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sand and Gravel |
Storms near this place
2 since 2010Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Blackwater in 2 storm reports between 2010 and 2025: 2 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2010 | Flash Flood | Blackwater | $300,000 | About 18 inches of water flooded roads and homes near Blackwater and Toki. In Arizona City, 4 homes had flood damage that lasted several days. Generally between 2 and 4 inches of rain fell in this area during the 5 days ending on January 22. |
| September 2025 | Flash Flood | Blackwater | $20,000 | Video showed major flooding at North Gary Road about 1/4 mile north San Tan Foothills High School in Queen Creek with approximately 2 feet of rushing water and cars stranded. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Borree Corner | 4.2 miles | 21 | |
| Coolidge | 5.0 miles | 21 | |
| Sacaton Flats | 5.3 miles | 18 | |
| Cottonwood | 6.9 miles | 18 | |
| Olberg | 6.9 miles | 18 | |
| Adamsville | 7.6 miles | 19 | |
| Valley Farms | 7.8 miles | 16 | |
| Magma | 8.2 miles | 20 |
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 Blackwater | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q880968 | 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 1657. 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.








