Rico, Colorado
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Rico census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81332. It stands on Silver Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rico quadrangle. 288 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,825 feet above sea level.
On record in Rico
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 3 records
Dey Buildinglisted 1999
William Kauffman Houselisted 1982
Rico City Halllisted 1974
Population over time
2 figuresRico grew from 265 to 288 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 | 265 | |
| 2020 | 288 | +23 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 19 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.
- 1897 USGS Rico quadrangle1:62500
- 1898 USGS Rico quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Rico quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1956 USGS Cortez quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Cortez quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Cortez quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Rico quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1962 USGS Cortez quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Cortez quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Dove Creek quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
8 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Rico between 1994 and 2020, burning about 8 acres in total. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Juan National Forest | CF 1143 |
| 2 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Rico Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 31 August 2020 | Natural | under an acre | San Juan National Forest | BOOTLEG |
| 28 August 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Juan National Forest | CF 1028 |
| 26 August 2008 | Natural | under an acre | San Juan National Forest | REB |
| 29 July 1994 | Natural | 7.0 acres | San Juan National Forest | SECTION |
| 2 July 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Rico Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 27 May 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | San Juan National Forest | CF-386 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 206 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 206 workings within 5 miles of Rico: 132 past producers, 30 prospects, 21 unknowns, 20 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Silver, Gold, Lead, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentine | Silver, Zinc, Copper, Gold, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Argonaut Mine | Silver, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Ben Group | Silver, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Bloine Tunnel | Uranium, Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Burns Group | Gold, Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| C. H. C. Group | Silver, Lead, Zinc, Sulfur-Pyrite | Past Producer | 1879 | |
| Caledonia | Copper, Lead, Molybdenum, Sulfur, Zinc | Unknown | ||
| Calico Peak | Aluminum, Sulfur, Sulfuric Acid, Molybdenum, Potassium | Prospect | 1912 | |
| Calico Peak Alunite Deposit | Aluminum, Molybdenum, Sulfur, Lead, Silver, Potassium, Manganese, Copper, Titanium, Metal | Occurrence | 1899 | |
| California | Lead, Copper, Gold, Silver | Prospect |
Storms near this place
3 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rico in 3 storm reports between 2007 and 2023: 1 heavy rain, 1 lightning, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2017 | Lightning | Rico | 1 killed, 1 hurt | Lightning struck two mountain bikers who had gotten below tree line to seek shelter. One mountain biker was killed. The other only had minor injuries and her clothes were shredded. They had been riding on a trail just above the 10,200 foot level on the East Fork Trail near the Lizard Head Wilderness Area. The mountain bikers were either under or very near a tree when struck by lightning. After being struck, the male victim was talking and conscious for about a minute, and then collapsed. CPR was administered immediately by the female victim, and then an EMT who was also mountain biking in the area came over to assist, but all efforts were unsuccessful. |
| May 2023 | Flood | Rico | $500 | Increased flood waters due to rapid snowmelt damaged a private bridge off of Colorado Highway 145, near mile marker 22. |
| September 2007 | Heavy Rain | Rico | - | Rainfall of 1.50 inches was reported. The Dolores River was running high and overflowed its banks into a grassy area at North Bridge. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dunton | 6.5 miles | 15 | |
| Cahone | 41.3 miles | 11 | |
| Dove Creek | 46.7 miles | 12 | |
| Northdale | 52.9 miles | 21 |
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 Rico | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q765104 | 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 204670. 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.









