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Tonto Basin, Arizona

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Tonto Basin census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85553. It lies near Walnut Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Tonto Basin quadrangle. 1,444 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,238 feet above sea level.

Tonto Basin within Gila County

Population over time

2 figures

Tonto Basin grew from 1,424 to 1,444 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,424
20201,444+20 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 22 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.

Fires near this place

110 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 110 fires within 5 miles of Tonto Basin between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,535 acres in total. 44 started naturally. 2 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
Natural44
Missing data/not specified/undetermined44
Equipment and vehicle use11
Smoking3
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism2
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTonto National ForestA CROSS
29 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTonto National ForestBAR X
24 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTonto National ForestHAPPY
21 September 1998Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTonto National ForestBAY
2 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTonto National ForestASH
19 September 2009Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTonto National ForestPUNKIN
18 September 1995Naturalunder an acreTonto National ForestCRAWFORD
14 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTonto National ForestLANN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gila County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Tonto Basin: 3 past producers, 3 occurrences, 2 prospects, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Fluorine-Fluorite, Clay, Uranium, Zeolites. 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
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Tonto Basin Chabazite DepositZeolitesOccurrenceChabazite
Clay DepositClayProspect
Clay DepositClayOccurrence
Giger ClaimsUraniumOccurrenceUranophane
Kathy ClaimsUraniumProspect
PackardFluorine-FluoritePast Producer1938
Packard MineFluorine-FluoritePast Producer1938
Tonto Mining & MillingFluorine-FluoriteProducer

Every working recorded in Gila County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Tonto Basin in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 3 flash flood, 2 hail, 2 heavy rain. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2007Flash FloodTonto Basin$50,000About 500 people were stranded in their Tonto Basin homes because of flooded roads and adjacent areas around Tonto Creek. The largest rainfall amounts from this series of storms exceeded 3 inches in some spots. The river gauge at the Tonto Creek site near Roosevelt peaked at over 12 feet on the 8th. Rainfall continued into the week of December 10th, prolonging the runoff and keeping FR470 through Tonto Basin closed for several days. Globe received 1.90, and Miami had 2.72 inches from the 8th through the 12th.
September 2025Flash FloodTonto Basin-A Maricopa County Flood Control District streamflow gauge along East Fork Cave Creek near 7th Avenue in North Phoenix recorded a water level that rose above the designated alarm stage level of 3 ft, and had a peak stage of 3.55 ft at 0035MST. Any increase in water levels to or above alarm stage leads to the low-water crossing along 7th Avenue, immediately downstream of the gauge location, becoming impassable. No damages or injuries were reported.
August 2020Flash FloodTonto Basin-Heavy rain fell over the Bush Fire scar and caused a 3-4 foot flash flood in Slate Creek. The water was black (ash) and muddy.
September 2018HailTonto Basin-A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail (1 3/4 inch diameter) four miles south of Jakes Corner.
January 2015Heavy RainTonto Basin-Heavy rain spread from south to north across northern Gila County. A spotter in Pine reported 2.18 inches of rain (storm total) and flooded low water crossings. Bradshaw Road was closed at Pine Creek.
September 2007Heavy RainTonto Basin-Gila county sheriffs office reported roads closed due to high water near Tonto Basin.
August 1998HailTonto Basin-A weather spotter reported one inch diameter hail at Tonto Village.

Every storm recorded in Gila 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
Riverside Acres1.1 miles22
Roosevelt Lake Gardens West1.4 miles22
Roosevelt Lake Gardens East1.6 miles22
Rancho Del Escondido2.4 miles22
Punkin Center3.0 miles22
Jakes Corner12.4 miles23
Government Hill13.3 miles22
Roosevelt14.2 miles22

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 Tonto BasinAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2603048The 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 1853170. 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.