Houck, Arizona
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Fort Defiance census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86506. The Survey maps it on the Houck quadrangle. 886 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,035 feet above sea level.
On record in Houck
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
Allentown Bridgelisted 1988
Querino Canyon Bridgelisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresHouck fell from 1,024 to 886 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,024 | |
| 2020 | 886 | -138 (-13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 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.
- 1886 USGS Fort Defiance quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Fort Defiance quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1954 USGS Gallup quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Gallup quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Gallup quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Gallup quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Gallup quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Houck quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Sanders quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
137 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 137 fires within 5 miles of Houck between 1992 and 2019, burning about 3,530 acres in total. 41 started naturally. 1 was 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 burning | 63 |
| Natural | 41 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | QUERINO 5 |
| 25 September 1992 | Debris and open burning | 14 acres | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | HAWTHORNE |
| 15 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | CEDAR POINT |
| 13 September 1995 | Smoking | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | BURNTWATER |
| 1 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | HOUCK 2 |
| 9 August 2009 | Debris and open burning | 5.2 acres | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | QUERINO 1 |
| 6 August 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | DUMP 5 |
| 4 August 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | HOUCK3 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Houck: 7 producers, 3 occurrences, 2 past producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Bentonite, Geothermal. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bleaching Clay Deposit | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Name Unknown | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Name Unknown | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Bentonite Pits Near Allentown | Bentonite | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Bentonitic Clay Deposit | Bentonite | Occurrence | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sand and Gravel | |
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Houck Operation | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Houck Silica Operation Mine | Silica | Producer | ||
| Houck Silica Operation Plant | Silica | Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Houck in 3 storm reports in 2018: 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2018 | Heavy Rain | Houck | - | Heavy rain over Interstate 40 between Sanders and Lupton caused up to one foot of water to accumulate on the road (between mile markers 354 and 359). Initial reports indicated that several cars were stopped along the highway. However, DPS only saw one car stopped when they arrived and the water had receded. |
| August 2018 | Flash Flood | Houck | - | Swift water rescue was conducted around 350 PM to rescue a driver in 2.5 to 3 feet of water on Interstate 40 due to flooding of Black Creek near Houck. The I-40 frontage road (dirt) on the north side was impassible due to flooding through at least 630 PM. |
| October 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Houck | - | An Arizona Department of Transportation wind sensor on Interstate 40 near Lupton reported a wind gust of 58 MPH at 632 PM. A cold front was moving across the area and there were thunderstorms in the vicinity at that time. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allentown | 2.6 miles | 15 | |
| Sanders | 8.1 miles | 15 | |
| Chetco | 8.2 miles | 15 | |
| Pine Springs | 9.3 miles | 15 | |
| Lupton | 9.5 miles | 15 | |
| Chambers | 13.6 miles | 15 | |
| Oak Springs | 13.9 miles | 15 | |
| Wide Ruins | 18.0 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 Houck | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1895331 | 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 24465. 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.








