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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.

La Veta within Huerfano County

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

Population over time

2 figures

La 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.

YearPeople Change
2010800
2020862+62 (+8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 18 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

22 since 1995

Regional 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/undetermined14
Arson/incendiarism2
Natural2
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Debris and open burning1

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
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersLA VETA
11 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersLA VETA
12 July 2014Naturalunder an acreLa Veta Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
11 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersLA VETA
3 June 2018Naturalunder an acreLa Veta Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
11 June 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersLA VETA
5 May 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLa Veta Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
4 April 2020Smokingunder an acreLa Veta Fire Protection DistrictN/A

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Huerfano County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Huerfano County

Storms near this place

32 since 2000

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2000LightningLa Veta$40,000A summer house was totally destroyed by a lightning started fire.
July 2014Flash FloodLa Veta$3,000no account filed
June 2024Flash FloodLa 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 2024Thunderstorm WindLa Veta-Public source (via mPing) reported wind damage with 1 inch tree limbs broken and shingles blown off.
June 2023HailLa Veta-Public reported.
June 2023Heavy RainLa Veta-There was 1.6 inches of rain reported.
July 2022Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rainfall of 1.53 inches.
July 2022Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rainfall of 1.82 inches measured at Harrison Bridge near Cucharas, in one hour.
July 2021Flash FloodLa Veta-Road 421 was overtopped for hundreds of yards.
August 2021Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rainfall of 3.70 inches.
July 2021Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rainfall of 3.45 inches.
May 2021Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rain of 1.70 inches, La Veta.
May 2021Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rain of 2.54 inches, 5 miles north northeast Spanish Peaks.
May 2020Heavy RainLa Veta-One-hour total.
August 2020Heavy RainLa Veta-Heavy rainfall of 1.9 inches.
August 2020Flash FloodLa Veta-Rushing water across CR 421 along Indian creek, about a foot deep. Road is impassable.
August 2020Debris FlowLa Veta-Mud slide across Highway 12 has closed the road down from mm 13-14, per CSP Pueblo.
September 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-County road 430 is submerged by heavy flows from Middle Creek.
July 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-Water has over-topped CR 430.
July 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-Highway 12 in La Veta has been closed with water flowing across the road surface. Water was at least 4 inches deep.
July 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-County Road 440 has been washed out with possible damage to nearby railroad tracks.
July 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-At least 2 feet of water rapidly flowing across CR 430. Looks to impact at least 100 yards of the road surface.
July 2019Flash FloodLa Veta-Middle Creek has over topped its banks with water flowing across CR 430.
August 2016Flash FloodLa Veta-A storm produced heavy rain and flash flooding of drainages and roadways east of East Spanish Peak.
July 2013Flash FloodLa 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 2006Flash FloodLa Veta-Heavy thunderstorm rains and subsequent flooding caused road damage near La Veta in Huerfano County.
May 2021HailLa Veta-no account filed
August 2018HailLa Veta-no account filed
August 2018HailLa Veta-no account filed
July 2014Flash FloodLa Veta-no account filed
June 2007HailLa Veta-no account filed
June 2007HailLa Veta-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Huerfano 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
Occidental5.3 miles18
Codo7.4 miles21
Cuchara10.0 miles15
Alamo10.7 miles15
Muleshoe11.0 miles21
Pictou13.8 miles15
Maitland13.9 miles15
Tioga14.0 miles15

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 VetaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q961938The 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.