Blue River, Colorado
31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Breckenridge census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80424. It stands on Pennsylvania Creek. The Survey maps it on the Breckenridge quadrangle. 877 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 10,036 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBlue River grew from 849 to 877 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 | 849 | |
| 2020 | 877 | +28 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 31 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.
- 1889 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1934 USGS Climax quadrangle1:48000
- 1938 USGS Mount Lincoln quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1938 USGS Mt. Lincoln quadrangle1:48000
- 1942 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:125000
- 1945 USGS Mount Lincoln quadrangle1:62500
- 1945 USGS Mt. Lincoln quadrangle1:62500
- 1957 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Breckenridge quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1983 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
126 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 126 fires within 5 miles of Blue River between 1994 and 2020, burning about 9 acres in total. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 96 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Red White & Blue Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 5 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BRECKENRIDGE |
| 30 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Red White & Blue Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 29 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 27 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Red White & Blue Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 21 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 2 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Red White & Blue Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 2 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | BRECKENRIDGE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 127 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 127 workings within 5 miles of Blue River: 52 past producers, 30 occurrences, 27 producers, 18 unknowns. 27 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver, Zinc, Lead, Lead, Silver, Zinc, Copper. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bemrose Mine | Gold, Iron, Silver | Producer | Pyrite, Pyrrhotite | |
| Briar Rose Mine | Gold, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | Galena, Pyrite | |
| Bullion King | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Producer | ||
| Cally Mine | Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Carbonate Mine | Zinc, Silver, Lead | Producer | Anglesite, Galena | |
| Commodore Placer | Gold, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Dunkin | Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | 1895 | |
| Dunkin, Juniata, Puzzle, Ouray, Gold Dust, Washington | Zinc, Gold, Silver, Lead | Producer | ||
| Fredonia | Silver, Zinc, Lead | Producer | ||
| Golden Crest Mine | Gold, Beryllium | Occurrence | Beryl |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tordal Estates | 3.1 miles | 31 | |
| Dyersville (historical) | 3.2 miles | 23 | |
| Breckenridge | 3.6 miles | 31 | |
| Preston (historical) | 4.7 miles | 31 | |
| Peak Seven West | 5.0 miles | 31 | |
| Lincoln | 5.0 miles | 23 | |
| Parkville (historical) | 6.9 miles | 23 | |
| Wheeler Junction | 7.4 miles | 19 |
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 Blue River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2264851 | 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 179660. 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.














