BlockBefore

Sunshine, Colorado

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Bald Mountain census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80302. It lies near Butzel Hill. The Survey maps it on the Boulder quadrangle. 198 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,100 feet above sea level.

Sunshine within Boulder County

On record in Sunshine

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Sunshine fell from 230 to 198 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
2010230
2020198-32 (-14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 29 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

292 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 292 fires within 5 miles of Sunshine between 1992 and 2020, burning about 11,645 acres in total. 46 started naturally. 11 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/undetermined171
Natural46
Recreation and ceremony28
Equipment and vehicle use14
Arson/incendiarism11
Smoking6
Debris and open burning6
Fireworks6
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

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 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreArapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National GrasslandIA 657
7 September 1994Naturalunder an acreArapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National GrasslandNORTH EAST SUGARLOAF
6 September 2010Debris and open burning6,382 acresRoyal Gorge Field OfficeFOURMILE CANYON
5 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLefthand Fire Protection DistrictN/A
5 September 2013Naturalunder an acreArapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National GrasslandSLAUGHTERHOUSE
5 September 2013Natural1.0 acresLefthand Fire Protection DistrictUNKNOWN
5 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersBOULDER
5 September 2010Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreArapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National GrasslandMT. ALTO

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Boulder County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 537 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 537 workings within 5 miles of Sunshine: 308 past producers, 171 occurrences, 50 producers, 5 unknowns. 50 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Tungsten, Uranium. 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
ArgoUranium, Fluorine-Fluorite, Gold, Silver, Lead, CopperProducerVein
ArgoFluorine-Fluorite, Gold, Copper, Uranium, Lead, SilverPast ProducerFluorspar, Galena, Sphalerite, Pyrite, Tennantite, Chalcopyrite, Enargite
Beryl #2Niobium (Columbium), Feldspar, Beryllium, MicaProducerBeryl, Feldspar, Mica
Beryl No.1 & 2 ClaimsBeryllium, Mica, Niobium (Columbium), FeldsparPast Producer
BuckhornGold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Fluorine-FluoritePast ProducerPyrite, Chalcopyrite, Galena
Buena MineSilver, Gold, Copper, Tungsten, Fluorine-FluoritePast ProducerKrennerite, Gold, Sylvanite, Petzite
Buena Vista Mine Nos 1-2-3Barium-BaritePast Producer
Castle GulchGemstone, SilverPast Producer
Cobalt Gold Mining CoNickel, GoldPast Producer
ColumbineFeldspar, Mica, Beryllium, Niobium (Columbium), CopperProducerBeryl, Columbite, Feldspar, Malachite, Mica

Every working recorded in Boulder 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
Salina1.1 miles29
Glendale1.1 miles29
Rowena1.4 miles28
Summerville1.6 miles28
Crisman1.7 miles29
Wallstreet2.3 miles28
Gold Hill2.3 miles28
Gold Run2.5 miles28

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 SunshineAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7641396The 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 178617. 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.