Basalt, Colorado
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1957 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Basalt census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81621. It stands on Fryingpan River. The Survey maps it on the Basalt quadrangle. 3,984 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,611 feet above sea level.
On record in Basalt
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
- Glassier Farmsteadlisted 2023
Population over time
2 figuresBasalt grew from 3,857 to 3,984 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 | 3,857 | |
| 2020 | 3,984 | +127 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1957 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Basalt quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1962 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Carbondale quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
81 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Basalt between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,256 acres in total. 43 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 | 43 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Northwest District, Grand Junction | EAGLE CO 11 |
| 3 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | ARBNEY HIL |
| 27 September 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Basalt & Rural Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 26 September 2008 | Natural | under an acre | White River National Forest | TAYLOR RIDGE |
| 22 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | White River National Forest | SAWDUST |
| 11 September 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | LYONS GUL |
| 1 September 2012 | Smoking | under an acre | White River National Forest | MILL |
| 1 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | WOODY CREEK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 12 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Basalt: 6 past producers, 4 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Sand and Gravel | |
| Unknown | Pumice | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Homeward Bound | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Big Buck | Manganese | Past Producer | ||
| Big Buck Mine | Manganese | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Bionaz Group | Manganese | Past Producer | ||
| Bionaz Group | Manganese | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Panco Manganese Deposit | Manganese | Occurrence | Braunite |
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Basalt in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2019: 4 flash flood, 2 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Basalt | $200,000 | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Basalt | $40,000 | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Debris Flow | Basalt | $10,000 | Numerous mudslides occurred 1 to 3 miles east of Basalt along Frying Pan Road as well as in the northwest side of town along Cedar and Pinion Drives in the Lake Christine Fire burn scar. The mud and debris closed several neighborhood roads with water flows estimated at 6 feet above normally dry channels, creeks, and washes. Drainage culverts were overwhelmed by mud and rocks flowing off the burn scar with 1 to 3 feet of ash-filled mud covering lawns and surrounding a few homes. Portions of Frying Pan Road were closed and, while the mud and debris flows that occurred were not associated with the Lake Christine Fire burn scar itself, the steep terrain and heavy rainfall still resulted in several vehicles being trapped by the flows. United States Geological Survey (USGS) rain gauges recorded about 1.60 inches of rain fell over the area in less than 2 hours. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Basalt | $5,000 | Torrential rainfall over the Seven Castles formation of cliffs and gullies funneled down the Seven Castles Creek drainage and spilled into the Fryingpan River. The flood of water, rocks, and mud caused the course of the river channel to shift south. The debris field from the flood was about 1/4 mile wide and caused Eagle County road crews to scurry to the scene to clear up the debris covering the road. Debris ranged from knee-deep to waist-high. A temporary construction bridge and a section of Old Stage Road were washed out. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Basalt | - | Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) road sensors recorded wind gusts of 73 mph from outflow associated with a collapsing thunderstorm. |
| January 2019 | Flash Flood | Basalt | - | The Roaring Fork Conservancy District reported an Ice Jam that was breaking up along the Fryingpan River with large debris and chunks of ice flow downstream. The river peaked around midday on January 3rd and again on January 4th. |
| July 2013 | Funnel Cloud | Basalt | - | A brief rope funnel appeared below a thunderstorm for about a couple of minutes in Basalt. |
| July 2011 | Heavy Rain | Basalt | - | A rainfall of total of 1.48 inches was measured within 60 minutes at the Crown RAWS weather station. |
| July 2007 | Heavy Rain | Basalt | - | Runoff from heavy rain caused the flooding of a road near Basalt. |
| August 2001 | Flood | Basalt | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | Basalt | - | no account filed |
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.
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 Basalt | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q809757 | 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 175038. 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.






