Dinosaur, Colorado
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Dinosaur census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81610. It lies near Sand Draw. The Survey maps it on the Dinosaur quadrangle. 243 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,922 feet above sea level.
On record in Dinosaur
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
Rial Chew Ranch Complexlisted 1987
Upper Wade and Curtis Cabinlisted 1986- Denis Julien Inscriptionlisted 1986
- Mantle's Cavelisted 1994
Population over time
2 figuresDinosaur fell from 339 to 243 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 | 339 | |
| 2020 | 243 | -96 (-28%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 18 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.
- 1885 USGS Ashley quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1907 USGS Jensen quadrangle1:125000
- 1910 USGS Jensen quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Dinosaur quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
85 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 85 fires within 5 miles of Dinosaur between 1992 and 2020, burning about 710 acres in total. 64 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 | 64 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Craig | ONE16 |
| 3 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Dinosaur National Monument | DUMPSTER |
| 28 September 1992 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Craig | THE SKULL |
| 28 September 1992 | Natural | under an acre | Dinosaur National Monument | SKULL |
| 17 September 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Craig | EISENHOWER |
| 16 September 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Craig | PLUG |
| 16 September 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Dinosaur National Monument | BONE YARD |
| 13 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Dinosaur National Monument | PLUG HAT |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Dinosaur: 2 occurrences, 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Vanadium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colute Claims | Uranium, Vanadium | Occurrence | Stratiform | |
| Cottonwood Creek Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Cottonwood Creek Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | Gravel |
Storms near this place
13 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dinosaur in 13 storm reports between 1998 and 2011: 5 wildfire, 2 tornado, 2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dinosaur | - | Thunderstorm wind gusts to 60 mph and half inch sized hail were reported in Dinosaur. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dinosaur | - | A severe thunderstorm with pea sized hail and winds estimated at 60 mph were reported at the Dinosaur National Monument area. |
| August 2009 | Tornado (EF0) | Dinosaur | - | A tornado was observed by many people in the Rangely area and also photographed by a couple of individuals. The tornado remained over open country during its lifespan. The tornado track location is an estimate based on triangulation of eyewitness reports. |
| September 2007 | Hail | Dinosaur | - | Nickel size hail occurred at Dinosaur National Monument Headquarters. |
| September 2007 | Hail | Dinosaur | - | Hail covered the ground. |
| August 2006 | Tornado (F1) | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Heavy Rain | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Wildfire | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Wildfire | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Wildfire | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Wildfire | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Flash Flood | Dinosaur | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Wildfire | Dinosaur | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Mountain | 8.1 miles | 12 | |
| Robinson Place | 11.3 miles | 15 | |
| Jack Springs | 18.1 miles | 12 | |
| Massadona | 19.8 miles | 12 | |
| Elk Springs | 31.0 miles | 15 | |
| Greystone | 31.0 miles | 11 | |
| Craig Place | 33.0 miles | 13 | |
| Wilson Place | 36.3 miles | 14 |
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 Dinosaur | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2076262 | 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 171542. 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.







