Empire, Colorado
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Georgetown census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80438. It stands on Lion Creek. The Survey maps it on the Empire quadrangle. 345 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,615 feet above sea level.
On record in Empire
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 2 records
Mint Saloonlisted 1993
Peck Houselisted 1993
Population over time
2 figuresEmpire grew from 282 to 345 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 | 282 | |
| 2020 | 345 | +63 (+22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 29 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.
- 1905 USGS Central City quadrangle1:62500
- 1910 USGS Central City quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1912 USGS Central City quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1953 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Empire quadrangle1:24000, 11 printings
- 1960 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Denver West quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
37 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Empire between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 1 was 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 | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 12 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland | UTE CREEK |
| 26 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 24 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Clear Creek County Office | CCX 884 |
| 23 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland | CLEAR CREEK |
| 23 September 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland | THREE CHIEFS |
| 17 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 10 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland | EVANS |
| 1 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 469 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 469 workings within 5 miles of Empire: 380 past producers, 41 producers, 37 occurrences, 9 unknowns. 41 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Lead, Lead, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Amy | Lead, Zinc, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Angeline | Gold, Lead, Zinc, Copper, Silver | Producer | Vein | |
| Anglo Saxon Mine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Anglo-Saxon Mine | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Bachus Group | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Underground | |
| Bard Creek Mine | Zinc, Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper | Occurrence | Lead, Silver | |
| Bellevue-Rochester | Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead, Uranium, Zinc | Past Producer | Galena, Pyrite, Sphalerite, Uraninite | |
| Bellview-Hudson | Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Producer | Vein | |
| Capitol Prize | Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawson | 3.0 miles | 29 | |
| Downieville | 3.7 miles | 27 | |
| Georgetown | 3.9 miles | 29 | |
| Lamartine | 4.2 miles | 28 | |
| Saint Marys | 4.3 miles | 29 | |
| Dumont | 4.5 miles | 27 | |
| Alice | 4.5 miles | 29 | |
| Silverdale (historical) | 4.9 miles | 29 |
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 Empire | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2416075 | 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 181355. 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.








