Wide Ruins, Arizona
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Fort Defiance census division. It lies in ZIP code area 86502. It stands on Oak Ridge Wash. The Survey maps it on the Wide Ruins quadrangle. 20 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,263 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresWide Ruins fell from 176 to 20 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 | 176 | |
| 2020 | 20 | -156 (-89%) |
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 Wide Ruins quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Sanders quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
75 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of Wide Ruins between 1992 and 2020, burning about 896 acres in total. 20 started naturally. 3 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 | 26 |
| Natural | 20 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2009 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | E. KLAGETOH 1 |
| 7 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | S. KLAGETOH |
| 8 August 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | 12 acres | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | TANNER |
| 7 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | BLUMEADOW1 |
| 7 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | BLUMEADOW2 |
| 31 August 2018 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | GREY VALLEY 5 |
| 29 August 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | WIDE FIRE |
| 29 August 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Navajo Region Fire and Aviation Management | WIDERUINS2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Wide Ruins: 2 unknowns, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 | Unknown | ||
| Wide Ruin Area Sandpit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Wide Ruins Area | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klagetoh | 5.9 miles | 16 | |
| Pine Springs | 11.5 miles | 15 | |
| Tanner Springs | 13.5 miles | 15 | |
| Chambers | 16.3 miles | 15 | |
| Chetco | 16.4 miles | 15 | |
| Sanders | 16.5 miles | 15 | |
| Houck | 18.0 miles | 15 | |
| Sunrise Springs | 18.3 miles | 16 |
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 Wide Ruins | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4957568 | 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 13740. 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.








