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.
Population over time
2 figuresTonto 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,424 | |
| 2020 | 1,444 | +20 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 22 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.
- 1907 USGS Roosevelt quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1909 USGS Four Peaks quadrangle1:125000
- 1909 USGS Roosevelt quadrangle1:125000
- 1912 USGS Roosevelt quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Mesa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Tonto Basin quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Theodore Roosevelt Lake quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 2004 USGS Tonto Basin quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
110 since 1992Regional 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 44 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | A CROSS |
| 29 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | BAR X |
| 24 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Tonto National Forest | HAPPY |
| 21 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | BAY |
| 2 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | ASH |
| 19 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | PUNKIN |
| 18 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | CRAWFORD |
| 14 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tonto National Forest | LANN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Tonto Basin Chabazite Deposit | Zeolites | Occurrence | Chabazite | |
| Clay Deposit | Clay | Prospect | ||
| Clay Deposit | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Giger Claims | Uranium | Occurrence | Uranophane | |
| Kathy Claims | Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Packard | Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | 1938 | |
| Packard Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | 1938 | |
| Tonto Mining & Milling | Fluorine-Fluorite | Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2007 | Flash Flood | Tonto Basin | $50,000 | About 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 2025 | Flash Flood | Tonto 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 2020 | Flash Flood | Tonto 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 2018 | Hail | Tonto Basin | - | A trained spotter reported golf ball sized hail (1 3/4 inch diameter) four miles south of Jakes Corner. |
| January 2015 | Heavy Rain | Tonto 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 2007 | Heavy Rain | Tonto Basin | - | Gila county sheriffs office reported roads closed due to high water near Tonto Basin. |
| August 1998 | Hail | Tonto Basin | - | A weather spotter reported one inch diameter hail at Tonto Village. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Acres | 1.1 miles | 22 | |
| Roosevelt Lake Gardens West | 1.4 miles | 22 | |
| Roosevelt Lake Gardens East | 1.6 miles | 22 | |
| Rancho Del Escondido | 2.4 miles | 22 | |
| Punkin Center | 3.0 miles | 22 | |
| Jakes Corner | 12.4 miles | 23 | |
| Government Hill | 13.3 miles | 22 | |
| Roosevelt | 14.2 miles | 22 |
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 Basin | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2603048 | 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 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.











