Lake City, Colorado
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Lake City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81235. It stands on Henson Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lake City quadrangle. 432 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,661 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Lake City
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
Lake City Historic Districtlisted 1978
Tobasco Mine and Milllisted 2008
Ute-Ulay Mine and Milllisted 2017- Rose Lime Kilnlisted 1993
Population over time
3 figuresLake City fell from 607 to 432 between 1890 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1890 | 607 | |
| 2010 | 408 | |
| 2020 | 432 | +24 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 20 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.
- 1903 USGS Lake City quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1905 USGS Lake City quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1908 USGS Uncompahgre quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1911 USGS Uncompahgre quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Lake City quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1968 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Montrose quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
16 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Lake City between 1993 and 2019, burning about 3 acres in total. 10 started naturally. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests | CRYSTAL LAKE |
| 15 August 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | SLUMGULLION CREEK |
| 13 August 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests | SPARLING |
| 10 August 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | NELLY CREEK |
| 4 July 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | LAKE CITY |
| 24 July 2006 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | HENSON CREEK |
| 2 July 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Southwest District, Montrose | WUPPERMAN |
| 17 July 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests | LAKE FORK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 56 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 56 workings within 5 miles of Lake City: 23 past producers, 22 unknowns, 9 occurrences, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Silver, Gold, Antimony. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belle of the West | Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Belle of the West Mine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Antimony | Past Producer | 1959 | |
| Black Crook | Lead, Zinc, Arsenic, Gold, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Contention Mine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Manganese, Antimony | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Eckman Manganese Deposit | Manganese, Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Fanny Fern Mine | Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper, Zinc, Antimony | Past Producer | 1952 | |
| Fanny Fern Mine | Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper | Unknown | ||
| Galena | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Unknown | ||
| Gladiator Mine | Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Antimony | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Gold Quartz Mine | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Antimony, Zinc, Tellurium | Past Producer | 1951 |
Storms near this place
13 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake City in 13 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 4 flash flood, 3 debris flow, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death and 2 injuries. 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 2019 | Flood | Lake City | 1 killed | A woman was swept into Pole Creek while trying to cross the stream with her husband in a Jeep. She was missing for almost a month before her body was found along the Rio Grande River on July 25th. |
| July 2014 | Lightning | Lake City | 2 hurt, $300 | Two ultramarathon runners from Canada were struck by lightning on Handies Peak at about the 14,050 foot level while competing in the 100-mile Handrock Endurance Run. Both men incurred minor injuries. The headlamp of one runner exploded when struck by the lightning. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake City | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Flash Flood | Lake City | $30,000 | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Debris Flow | Lake City | $5,000 | Showers and thunderstorms produced heavy rain which led to multiple mudslides along County Road 30 near Cinnamon Pass. The road was closed for an extended period of time. Several vehicles were stuck behind the mudslide and the occupants had to be rescued by Search and Rescue. |
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Lake City | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Lake City | $1,000 | no account filed |
| August 2025 | Hail | Lake City | - | A strong storm developed 7 miles south-southwest of Lake City producing pea to dime size hail with a few nickel size hailstones around 1045 MST. |
| August 2024 | Debris Flow | Lake City | - | Colorado Department of Transportation reported the closure of Colorado State Highway 149 at mile marker 74, roughly 1 mile north-northwest of Lake City, due to a mudslide. This area is very steep, and prone to rock and mudslides with either prolonged moderate to heavy rainfall, or short but intense heavy rainfall. |
| July 2017 | Heavy Rain | Lake City | - | Heavy rainfall resulted in a rockslide across Highway 30 between Highway 149 and Lake San Cristobal. |
| July 2014 | Flash Flood | Lake City | - | Heavy rainfall near Lake City with amounts of over and inch caused flash flooding which closed Highway 149 and deposited a large amount of debris onto the road. |
| August 2013 | Debris Flow | Lake City | - | A debris flow caused by heavy rainfall closed Highway 149 between mile markers 77 and 79 for several hours. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake City | - | Thunderstorm winds gusts estimated up to 60 mph broke off tree limbs up to 3 inches in diameter at Lake City. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henson | 3.3 miles | 23 | |
| Capitol City (historical) | 8.2 miles | 23 | |
| Cathedral | 15.6 miles | 20 |
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 Lake City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2278225 | 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 188715. 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.









