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Morenci, Arizona

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Clifton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85540. It lies near Modoc Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Clifton quadrangle. 2,028 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,747 feet above sea level.

Morenci within Greenlee County

Population over time

3 figures

Morenci grew from 1,879 to 2,028 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.

YearPeople Change
20001,879
20101,489-390 (-21%)
20202,028+539 (+36%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 20 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.

Photographs

8 of 31 photographs shown, 1940 to 1942

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Morenci, Arizona. A huge electric shovel in operation at an open-pit copper mine of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Morenci, Arizona. A huge electric shovel in operation at an open-pit copper mine of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
The mill of the Morenci copper mine. Morenci, Arizona
The mill of the Morenci copper mine. Morenci, Arizona
Lee, Russell, 1940. Library of Congress
Morenci, Arizona. Concentrating plant of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Morenci, Arizona. Concentrating plant of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
Morenci, Arizona. An electric shovel operating in an open-pit copper mine of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Morenci, Arizona. An electric shovel operating in an open-pit copper mine of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
Production. Copper. Smokestack of a large copper smelter of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona. This plant is supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort
Production. Copper. Smokestack of a large copper smelter of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona. This plant is supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
Morenci, Arizona. Entrance to the copper concentrator of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation where ore trains transport copper ore from the open-pit mine
Morenci, Arizona. Entrance to the copper concentrator of the Phelps Dodge mining corporation where ore trains transport copper ore from the open-pit mine
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
Morenci, Arizona. Loading copper ore from an open-pit copper mine
Morenci, Arizona. Loading copper ore from an open-pit copper mine
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress
Production. Copper. Bulldozer operator at open-cut copper mine of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona, supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort
Production. Copper. Bulldozer operator at open-cut copper mine of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona, supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort
Henle, Fritz, 1942. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Greenlee County

Fires near this place

5 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Morenci between 1992 and 2017, burning about 10 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None 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
Natural3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

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
22 August 1992Naturalunder an acreApache-Sitgreaves National Forestnot named
18 July 2004Natural1.0 acresGila District OfficeMORENCI
30 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.0 acresGila District OfficeCORONADO
2 June 2006Natural2.0 acresGila District OfficeTURTLE
28 February 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGila District OfficePOTTER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Greenlee County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 87 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 87 workings within 5 miles of Morenci: 43 producers, 31 past producers, 4 prospects, 4 occurrences. 44 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Gold, Silver, Silver, Gold. 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
Aricana Mining CorpCopper, Gold, Silver, ZincUnknown
Arizona Central MineCopper, Zinc, IronProducer1870, 1882, 1920
Bell and Pinkard GroupSilver, Gold, Zinc, Lead, CopperProducer1949, 1951
Buzzard's Shadow MineGold, Copper, Silver, ManganeseProducer1901, 1904, 1915
Clifton Copper MinesGeothermalUnknown
Clifton Copper MinesCopper, Molybdenum, Gypsum-AnhydriteProducer1875, 1905, 1911
ColoradoCopper, Gold, Zinc, SilverPast Producer
Copper Mountain Kaolin OccurrenceKaolinOccurrenceKaolinite
Coronado MineCopper, Zinc, Lead, ManganeseProducer1874, 1913, 1918
Corporate and Climax ClaimsGold, ManganesePast Producer1932

Every working recorded in Greenlee 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
Stargo0.8 miles20
Metcalf (historical)2.3 miles20
Plantsite2.3 miles20
East Plantsite3.3 miles20
Clifton4.1 miles20
Maques Place7.1 miles12
Aragon Place7.4 miles12
Granville7.7 miles20

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 MorenciAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1249583The 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 32021. 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.