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Silver Cliff, Colorado

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Westcliffe census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81252. It stands on Silver Cliff Plateau. The Survey maps it on the Westcliffe quadrangle. 609 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,986 feet above sea level.

Silver Cliff within Custer County

Population over time

2 figures

Silver Cliff grew from 587 to 609 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
2010587
2020609+22 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 23 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

41 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Silver Cliff between 1992 and 2020, burning about 192 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Natural10
Recreation and ceremony3
Smoking2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
8 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
28 September 2010Naturalunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
19 September 2010Naturalunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
15 September 2010Naturalunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
6 August 2007Naturalunder an acrePike and San Isabel National ForestMILLBALL
4 August 2011Naturalunder an acreRoyal Gorge Field OfficeROSITA HILLS
31 August 2018Natural1.0 acresWet Mountain Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
29 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWet Mountain Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Custer County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 69 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 69 workings within 5 miles of Silver Cliff: 42 past producers, 12 prospects, 8 occurrences, 7 producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Silver, Perlite, Manganese, Silver, Lead. 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
Bull Domingo MineLead, Silver, Zinc, Gold, UraniumPast Producer1879, 1880, 1914
Dakota Maid ProspectSilver, Gold, LeadProspectGalena, Pyrite, Tetrahedrite
Defender MineSilver, Lead, Zinc, GoldPast Producer1882
Defender MineLead, Silver, ZincPast Producer
Dolly VardenZinc, Silver, LeadProspectvein
Geyser MineLead, Silver, Gold, Copper, ZincPast Producer1878, 1880, 1911
Green Mountain DepositSilver, Zinc, LeadPast ProducerGalena, Silver, Sphalerite
Herman Passiflora MineSilver, Lead, Gold, Iron, CopperPast Producer1895
Immortal MineSilver, Iron, Lead, CopperPast Producer1882
Iron Mountain MineSilver, Iron, REE, Molybdenum, CopperPast Producer1879, 1880, 1889

Every working recorded in Custer County

Storms near this place

7 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Silver Cliff in 7 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 5 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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
July 2025Tornado (EF0)Silver Cliff-Brief landspout tornado developed over an open field in Custer County. 3 power poles were damaged. A virtual damage assessment was completed with a rating of EF-0 and 85 MPH max wind gusts.
July 2018HailSilver Cliff-no account filed
July 2018HailSilver Cliff-no account filed
April 2012Thunderstorm WindSilver Cliff-no account filed
July 2009HailSilver Cliff-no account filed
July 2004HailSilver Cliff-no account filed
September 2004HailSilver Cliff-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Custer 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
Westcliffe1.0 miles23
Ula (historical)3.1 miles23
Querida6.0 miles26
Rosita6.4 miles24
Tanglewood Acres6.7 miles20
Cold Spring10.9 miles24
McKenzie Junction13.7 miles24
Fairview19.0 miles23

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 Silver CliffAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2275079The 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 192157. 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.