La Veta, Colorado
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the La Veta census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81055. It stands on Middle Creek. The Survey maps it on the La Veta quadrangle. 862 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,037 feet above sea level.
On record in La Veta
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
La Veta Pass Narrow Gauge Railroad Depotlisted 1980
Lamme Hospitallisted 1993- Smith, Edwin L. Buildinglisted 2020
- Veta Passlisted 2011
Population over time
2 figuresLa Veta grew from 800 to 862 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 | 800 | |
| 2020 | 862 | +62 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 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.
- 1889 USGS Huerfano Park quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Huerfano Park quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS La Veta quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1982 USGS Blanca Peak quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
22 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of La Veta between 1995 and 2020, burning about 273 acres in total. 2 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 | 14 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | LA VETA |
| 11 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | LA VETA |
| 12 July 2014 | Natural | under an acre | La Veta Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 11 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | LA VETA |
| 3 June 2018 | Natural | under an acre | La Veta Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 11 June 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | LA VETA |
| 5 May 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | La Veta Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 4 April 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | La Veta Fire Protection District | N/A |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of La Veta: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
32 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Veta in 32 storm reports between 2000 and 2024: 14 flash flood, 9 heavy rain, 6 hail, 1 lightning. 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 2000 | Lightning | La Veta | $40,000 | A summer house was totally destroyed by a lightning started fire. |
| July 2014 | Flash Flood | La Veta | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall led to some water over short stretches of Hwy 160, county roads, ditches, and other low-lying areas. No other notable impacts reported. Radar-estimated rainfall of 1.5-2.0 inches occurred over impacted areas within warning area. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Veta | - | Public source (via mPing) reported wind damage with 1 inch tree limbs broken and shingles blown off. |
| June 2023 | Hail | La Veta | - | Public reported. |
| June 2023 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | There was 1.6 inches of rain reported. |
| July 2022 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall of 1.53 inches. |
| July 2022 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall of 1.82 inches measured at Harrison Bridge near Cucharas, in one hour. |
| July 2021 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Road 421 was overtopped for hundreds of yards. |
| August 2021 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall of 3.70 inches. |
| July 2021 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall of 3.45 inches. |
| May 2021 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rain of 1.70 inches, La Veta. |
| May 2021 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rain of 2.54 inches, 5 miles north northeast Spanish Peaks. |
| May 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | One-hour total. |
| August 2020 | Heavy Rain | La Veta | - | Heavy rainfall of 1.9 inches. |
| August 2020 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Rushing water across CR 421 along Indian creek, about a foot deep. Road is impassable. |
| August 2020 | Debris Flow | La Veta | - | Mud slide across Highway 12 has closed the road down from mm 13-14, per CSP Pueblo. |
| September 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | County road 430 is submerged by heavy flows from Middle Creek. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Water has over-topped CR 430. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Highway 12 in La Veta has been closed with water flowing across the road surface. Water was at least 4 inches deep. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | County Road 440 has been washed out with possible damage to nearby railroad tracks. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | At least 2 feet of water rapidly flowing across CR 430. Looks to impact at least 100 yards of the road surface. |
| July 2019 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Middle Creek has over topped its banks with water flowing across CR 430. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | A storm produced heavy rain and flash flooding of drainages and roadways east of East Spanish Peak. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Several county roads, including Shangri-La subdivision and CR 340, experienced flooding and washouts within the East Peak burn scar north of East Spanish Peak. |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | Heavy thunderstorm rains and subsequent flooding caused road damage near La Veta in Huerfano County. |
| May 2021 | Hail | La Veta | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | La Veta | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | La Veta | - | no account filed |
| July 2014 | Flash Flood | La Veta | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | La Veta | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | La Veta | - | 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.
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 La Veta | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q961938 | 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 204782. 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.








