BlockBefore

Mountain City, Georgia

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Mountain City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30562. It stands on Silver Branch. The Survey maps it on the Dillard quadrangle. 904 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,156 feet above sea level.

Mountain City within Rabun County

On record in Mountain City

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

Mountain City fell from 1,088 to 904 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
20101,088
2020904-184 (-17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 24 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

116 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 116 fires within 5 miles of Mountain City between 1992 and 2019, burning about 533 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 13 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
Debris and open burning69
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Arson/incendiarism13
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Other causes4
Recreation and ceremony3
Smoking3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Natural2
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
17 September 2000Other causes1.0 acresChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestMOUNTAIN GROVE
15 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestRHONDA
11 August 2008Other causesunder an acreChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestLEAD TREE FIRE
22 July 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.4 acresChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestMYSTERY
21 July 2008Natural107 acresChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestWILSON KNOB
17 July 2009Naturalunder an acreChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestSTUMP
3 May 2001Arson/incendiarismunder an acreChattahoochee-Oconee National ForestAMERICUS
26 May 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreGeorgia Forestry CommissionFY2016-RABUN-009

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rabun County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Mountain City: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Silver. 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
Dillard/Ledford PlacersGold, SilverPast ProducerStream Placer
Bowers PlacerGoldPast ProducerStream Placer
Screamer Mt.GoldPast ProducerStream Placer

Every working recorded in Rabun County

Storms near this place

13 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mountain City in 13 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 7 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death. 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 2022LightningMountain City1 killedEmergency manager reported a lightning strike killed a 39-year-old construction worker on Blacks Creek Dr.
October 2020Flash FloodMountain City$10,000Emergency manager reported flash flooding developed across portions of Rabun County after 5.5 to 7 inches of rain fell across much of the county in around 24 hours. The most significant flooding occurred along the Tallulah River, especially just downstream of Mathis Dam, where inundation occurred along Shady Ln, a portion of Old 441, and Mathis Dam Rd. Multiple other roads were reported as flooded and closed throughout the county, including Highway 15 in the Clayton area.
October 2020FloodMountain City$1,000Although rain tapered off across Rabun County during the morning of the 11th, emergency manager reported lingering runoff resulted in multiple roads remaining inundated and closed, especially along the Tallulah River downstream of Mathis Dam.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindMountain City$500Thunderstorm winds blew down three trees in city limits, marble-size hail was also reported.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindMountain City-County comms reported trees blown down in Mountain City and in Sky Valley.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindMountain City-County comms reported multiple trees blown down in the Mountain City area.
March 2018HailMountain City-Public reported (via Social Media) mostly pea-to-dime size hail, with a few as large as quarters in the Mountain City area.
February 2011Thunderstorm WindMountain City-Several trees were blown down across eastern portions of the county.
June 2011HailMountain City-Quarter size hail fell between Mountain City and Rabun Gap.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindMountain City-Six trees blown down around Mountain City.
May 2006HailMountain City-no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindMountain City-no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindMountain City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rabun 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
York1.2 miles24
Clayton2.9 miles24
Dickerson Mill3.3 miles24
Dillard3.6 miles24
Laurel Falls4.1 miles19
Germany4.6 miles24
Antioch4.9 miles24
Tiger5.5 miles19

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 Mountain CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3097263The 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 356408. 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.