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Buffalo Creek, Colorado

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the South Jefferson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80425. It lies near Spring Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Pine quadrangle. It stands 6,762 feet above sea level.

Buffalo Creek within Jefferson County

On record in Buffalo Creek

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 4 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 33 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

263 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 263 fires within 5 miles of Buffalo Creek between 1992 and 2020, burning about 16,736 acres in total. 132 started naturally. 4 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
Natural132
Missing data/not specified/undetermined90
Recreation and ceremony28
Arson/incendiarism4
Debris and open burning3
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking2
Firearms and explosives use1

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
8 September 2013Naturalunder an acreNorth Fork Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
7 September 2018Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestSANDY
5 September 2018Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National Forest538
5 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Fork Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
4 September 2019Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestLONG SCRAGGY
4 September 1994Natural2.0 acresPike and San Isabel National Forestnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorth Fork Fire Protection DistrictN/A
3 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestSHOOTER 2

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 62 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 62 workings within 5 miles of Buffalo Creek: 24 producers, 20 past producers, 10 occurrences, 8 unknowns. 24 still produce. What was taken out: Feldspar, Quartz, Fluorine-Fluorite, Feldspar, Quartz. 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
AlphaGoldPast Producer
Big Bear No. 2 MineFeldspar, REEPast ProducerMicrocline
Big Bertha MineQuartz, Feldspar, Thorium, REEPast Producer1947, 1953
Buffalo MineLead, Gold, Silver, Fluorine-FluoritePast Producer1895, 1898
Butte #1Feldspar, Quartz, Fluorine-FluoriteProducerFluorite, Quartz
Catherine #1 ClaimMica, Fluorine-Fluorite, Gemstone, Feldspar, QuartzOccurrenceFluorite, Mica, Quartz, Topaz
Cooper QuarryQuartz, Feldspar, Uranium, Thorium, REEPast Producer1968
Dazie Bell MineQuartz, Fluorine-Fluorite, REE, ManganesePast Producer1965
Delbert Claims #1 & 2Feldspar, Quartz, Mica, Fluorine-FluoriteProducerFeldspar, Fluorite, Mica, Quartz
Judy Ann MineQuartz, Mica, Feldspar, Fluorine-Fluorite, REEOccurrenceFluorite, Gadolinite, Muscovite, Quartz

Every working recorded in Jefferson County

Storms near this place

10 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buffalo Creek in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 5 hail, 4 flash flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 2 deaths. 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 1996Flash FloodBuffalo Creek2 killed, $520,000no account filed
July 2023Flash FloodBuffalo Creek$10,000Heavy rain produced multiple mudslides on and near Highway 126. The roadway was closed until the debris could be cleared.
July 1998Flash FloodBuffalo Creek-Heavy rain, up to 3 inches in an hour, caused a flash flood along Buffalo Creek, Portions of County Road 126, just south of the town of Buffalo Creek, were washed out. The floodwaters near washed away the bridge as mud and debris slammed into the structure. It was almost 2 years to the day that a deadly flash flood rushed through the small town killing 2 residents.
August 2023HailBuffalo Creek-no account filed
July 2018HailBuffalo Creek-no account filed
May 2016HailBuffalo Creek-no account filed
July 2011HailBuffalo Creek-no account filed
August 2007HailBuffalo Creek-no account filed
July 1996LightningBuffalo Creek-no account filed
September 1996Flash FloodBuffalo Creek-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jefferson 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
Riverview0.8 miles33
Ferndale1.6 miles33
Foxton3.2 miles27
Pine Grove3.3 miles33
Sphinx Park3.5 miles33
Indian Springs Village4.1 miles33
Dome Rock4.6 miles27
Longview4.6 miles27

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 Buffalo CreekAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4985704The 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 183309. 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.