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Poncha Springs, Colorado

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Salida census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81242. It stands on Poncha Creek. The Survey maps it on the Salida West quadrangle. 925 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,464 feet above sea level.

Poncha Springs within Chaffee County

On record in Poncha Springs

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

Population over time

2 figures

Poncha Springs grew from 737 to 925 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
2010737
2020925+188 (+26%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 19 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

110 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 110 fires within 5 miles of Poncha Springs between 1992 and 2020, burning about 43 acres in total. 18 started naturally. 3 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/undetermined70
Natural18
Recreation and ceremony8
Debris and open burning4
Arson/incendiarism3
Smoking2
Fireworks2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
25 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreFront Range District OfficePASS CREEK
22 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSalida Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
2 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersN/A
2 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Arkansas Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
19 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSedgwick Volunteer Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN
18 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRoyal Gorge Field OfficeBLANK
1 September 1996Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestTWIN FIR
8 August 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSedgwick Volunteer Fire DepartmentUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Chaffee County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 38 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 38 workings within 5 miles of Poncha Springs: 22 past producers, 9 occurrences, 5 producers, 2 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Fluorine-Fluorite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Big Buck and White Cloud Mica ClaimsMicaOccurrenceMuscovite
Delay TunnelGoldPast Producer
Friend ClaimsBeryllium, TantalumOccurrence
Polly No 4Silver, Zinc, LeadPast Producer
Poncha SpringsGeothermalUnknown
R D H MillLead, Zinc, CopperPast Producer
SpringfieldCopperPast Producer
Ben Hill MineLead, SilverPast Producer
Calcium MillCalciumPast Producer
Colorado Granite Finishing PlantStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Chaffee 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
Smeltertown4.1 miles19
Salida4.4 miles17
Belleview4.4 miles19
Cleora5.7 miles17
Maysville6.3 miles17
Shirley (historical)6.7 miles19
Browns Canon6.9 miles19
Turret10.0 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 Poncha SpringsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2303261The 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 189428. 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.