BlockBefore

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.

Basalt within Eagle County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Basalt 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.

YearPeople Change
20103,857
20203,984+127 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 14 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

81 since 1992

Regional 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
Natural43
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Recreation and ceremony4
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
5 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresNorthwest District, Grand JunctionEAGLE CO 11
3 September 1995Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionARBNEY HIL
27 September 2018Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreBasalt & Rural Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
26 September 2008Naturalunder an acreWhite River National ForestTAYLOR RIDGE
22 September 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWhite River National ForestSAWDUST
11 September 2005Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionLYONS GUL
1 September 2012Smokingunder an acreWhite River National ForestMILL
1 September 2011Naturalunder an acreNorthwest District, Grand JunctionWOODY CREEK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Eagle County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
QuarryStoneProducer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSand and Gravel
UnknownPumicePast Producer
Gravel PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Homeward BoundStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Big BuckManganesePast Producer
Big Buck MineManganeseOccurrenceVein
Bionaz GroupManganesePast Producer
Bionaz GroupManganesePast ProducerVein
Panco Manganese DepositManganeseOccurrenceBraunite

Every working recorded in Eagle County

Storms near this place

11 since 1998

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2006Flash FloodBasalt$200,000no account filed
July 1998Flash FloodBasalt$40,000no account filed
August 2019Debris FlowBasalt$10,000Numerous 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 2007Flash FloodBasalt$5,000Torrential 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 2019Thunderstorm WindBasalt-Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) road sensors recorded wind gusts of 73 mph from outflow associated with a collapsing thunderstorm.
January 2019Flash FloodBasalt-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 2013Funnel CloudBasalt-A brief rope funnel appeared below a thunderstorm for about a couple of minutes in Basalt.
July 2011Heavy RainBasalt-A rainfall of total of 1.48 inches was measured within 60 minutes at the Crown RAWS weather station.
July 2007Heavy RainBasalt-Runoff from heavy rain caused the flooding of a road near Basalt.
August 2001FloodBasalt-no account filed
August 2000HailBasalt-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Eagle 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
Hooks3.0 miles14
El Jebel3.5 miles12
Leon3.7 miles12
Ruedi (historical)12.4 miles19
Dotsero19.4 miles19
Gypsum19.7 miles13
Fulford22.4 miles12
Eagle22.5 miles12

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 BasaltAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q809757The 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.