Rough Rock, Arizona
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Chinle census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86503. The Survey maps it on the Rough Rock quadrangle. 428 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,280 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRough Rock grew from 414 to 428 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 | 414 | |
| 2020 | 428 | +14 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 14 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.
- 1892 USGS Canyon De Chelly quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Shiprock quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1958 USGS Shiprock quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Shiprock quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Rough Rock quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Canyon De Chelly quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
1 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Rough Rock in 2016, burning about 5 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 July 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.6 acres | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | S. SANOSTEE |
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 Rough Rock: 3 past producers, 3 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Uranium, Vanadium, Uranium, Vanadium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Klee Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer | Clay, Metahewettite, Tyuyamunite | |
| Dan Taylor No. 1 Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer | Clay, Metahewettite, Tyuyamunite | |
| Rough Rock Slope No. 9 Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer | Clay, Metahewettite, Tyuyamunite | |
| Tom Wilson | Uranium | Unknown | ||
| Uranium Deposit | Uranium | Unknown | ||
| Uranium Deposit | Uranium | Unknown |
Storms near this place
5 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rough Rock in 5 storm reports between 2002 and 2024: 3 flash flood, 1 flood, 1 funnel cloud. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | Flash Flood | Rough Rock | - | The road from Rough Rock to Black Mesa was washed out with very large boulders blocking the road. |
| August 2015 | Flash Flood | Rough Rock | - | Heavy rain produced flash flooding in Indian Route 59 at MP 22 and MP 33. |
| July 2012 | Funnel Cloud | Rough Rock | - | A funnel cloud was seen form the community of Rough Rock. |
| May 2009 | Flood | Rough Rock | - | Heavy rain caused flash flooding along portions of Route 59 about 6 miles northwest of Rough Rock. |
| September 2002 | Flash Flood | Rough Rock | - | Flooding made Indian Route 59 near Rough Rock impassible. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tahchee | 12.4 miles | 14 | |
| Coyote Springs | 13.1 miles | 14 | |
| Many Farms | 14.0 miles | 15 | |
| Blue Gap | 16.8 miles | 14 | |
| Round Rock | 22.4 miles | 18 | |
| Cottonwood | 23.1 miles | 14 | |
| Chinle | 24.3 miles | 15 | |
| Rock Point | 25.1 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 Rough Rock | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1478058 | 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 10520. 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.





