Sanders, Arizona
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Puerco census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86512. The Survey maps it on the Sanders quadrangle. 575 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,865 feet above sea level.
On record in Sanders
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 1 record
- Sanders Bridgelisted 1988
Population over time
2 figuresSanders fell from 630 to 575 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 | 630 | |
| 2020 | 575 | -55 (-9%) |
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 Sanders quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Sanders quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
154 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 154 fires within 5 miles of Sanders between 1992 and 2020, burning about 163 acres in total. 26 started naturally. 13 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 62 |
| Natural | 26 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Fireworks | 6 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| 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 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | RAIL |
| 25 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | SALT |
| 18 September 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | CHAMBERS7 |
| 15 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | CEDAR POINT |
| 15 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | BUD |
| 14 September 1999 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | W.QUERINO1 |
| 13 September 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | VHS HILLS |
| 13 September 1995 | Smoking | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | BURNTWATER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 13 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Sanders: 7 past producers, 4 producers, 2 occurrences. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Bentonite, Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houck Silica Operation Mine | Silica | Producer | ||
| Houck Silica Sand | Silica | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Big Six | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Bleaching Clay Deposit | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Chambers | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sand and Gravel | |
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Big Six Mine | Bentonite | Past Producer | Bentonite | |
| Bleaching Clay Deposit | Bentonite | Occurrence | Bentonite |
Storms near this place
6 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sanders in 6 storm reports between 2005 and 2021: 4 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Sanders | - | A land spout tornado was reported by the public on Highway 191. The land spout formed along a gust front produced by a thunderstorm. |
| August 2014 | Funnel Cloud | Sanders | - | A brief funnel cloud was seen about 4 miles north of Sanders. |
| July 2007 | Flash Flood | Sanders | - | Heavy rain from thunderstorms caused flash flooding along Highway 191 betwee Sanders and St Johns. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Sanders | - | Heavy rain from thunderstorms caused flash flooding across Highway 191 between mile post 346 to 347 about 20 miles south-southeast of Sanders. |
| October 2006 | Flash Flood | Sanders | - | The Apache County Sheriff Department reported flash flooding in North Sanders. |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | Sanders | - | Heavy rain caused flooding along I-40 from Sanders to Lupton (from mile post 342 to the New Mexico state line). Both east and west bound lanes were closed. A bridge on I-40 was under water near Lupton. Flooding was also reported northward to Window Rock where the bridge over Narrow Wash washed out and stranded 15 to 20 people. Water also flowed over a bridge near the Window Rock Airport. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chetco | 0.0 miles | 15 | |
| Chambers | 5.6 miles | 15 | |
| Houck | 8.1 miles | 15 | |
| Allentown | 10.7 miles | 15 | |
| Navajo | 12.6 miles | 15 | |
| Pine Springs | 13.3 miles | 15 | |
| Wide Ruins | 16.5 miles | 15 | |
| Lupton | 17.6 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 Sanders | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q540652 | 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 10911. 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.








