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.
Population over time
2 figuresSilver 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 587 | |
| 2020 | 609 | +22 (+4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 23 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.
- 1889 USGS Canon City quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1892 USGS Canon City quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1892 USGS Canyon City quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Westcliffe quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Canon City quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Pueblo quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
41 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 23 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 28 September 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 19 September 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 15 September 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 6 August 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Pike and San Isabel National Forest | MILLBALL |
| 4 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Royal Gorge Field Office | ROSITA HILLS |
| 31 August 2018 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Wet Mountain Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
| 29 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wet Mountain Fire Protection District | UNKNOWN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 69 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bull Domingo Mine | Lead, Silver, Zinc, Gold, Uranium | Past Producer | 1879, 1880, 1914 | |
| Dakota Maid Prospect | Silver, Gold, Lead | Prospect | Galena, Pyrite, Tetrahedrite | |
| Defender Mine | Silver, Lead, Zinc, Gold | Past Producer | 1882 | |
| Defender Mine | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Dolly Varden | Zinc, Silver, Lead | Prospect | vein | |
| Geyser Mine | Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | 1878, 1880, 1911 | |
| Green Mountain Deposit | Silver, Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Silver, Sphalerite | |
| Herman Passiflora Mine | Silver, Lead, Gold, Iron, Copper | Past Producer | 1895 | |
| Immortal Mine | Silver, Iron, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | 1882 | |
| Iron Mountain Mine | Silver, Iron, REE, Molybdenum, Copper | Past Producer | 1879, 1880, 1889 |
Storms near this place
7 since 2004Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Tornado (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 2018 | Hail | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Hail | Silver Cliff | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westcliffe | 1.0 miles | 23 | |
| Ula (historical) | 3.1 miles | 23 | |
| Querida | 6.0 miles | 26 | |
| Rosita | 6.4 miles | 24 | |
| Tanglewood Acres | 6.7 miles | 20 | |
| Cold Spring | 10.9 miles | 24 | |
| McKenzie Junction | 13.7 miles | 24 | |
| Fairview | 19.0 miles | 23 |
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 Cliff | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2275079 | 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 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.










