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Benson, Iowa

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Cedar Falls Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50613. The Survey maps it on the New Hartford quadrangle.

Benson within Black Hawk County

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 9 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

2 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Benson in 2002, burning about 1 acre in total. None 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 ceremony1
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
3 June 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreIowa State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
23 March 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreIowa State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Black Hawk 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 Benson: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Black Hawk County

Storms near this place

34 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benson in 34 storm reports between 2007 and 2013: 33 flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 20 injuries. 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
May 2008Tornado (EF2)Benson20 hurt, $25,000,000Tornado moved in from Butler County and became very broad as it headed toward Fairbank. Tornado lifted on the Buchanan County border.
June 2008FloodBenson$2,000,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson$500,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson$500,000no account filed
May 2013FloodBenson$500,000no account filed
May 2013FloodBenson$500,000no account filed
June 2008FloodBenson$500,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson$250,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson$250,000no account filed
May 2013FloodBenson$250,000no account filed
May 2013FloodBenson$250,000no account filed
April 2008FloodBenson$200,000no account filed
April 2008FloodBenson$150,000no account filed
March 2011FloodBenson$100,000no account filed
March 2010FloodBenson$100,000no account filed
March 2010FloodBenson$100,000no account filed
June 2010FloodBenson$100,000no account filed
March 2011FloodBenson$75,000no account filed
June 2010FloodBenson$50,000no account filed
July 2010FloodBenson$50,000no account filed
March 2008FloodBenson$50,000no account filed
August 2007FloodBenson$50,000no account filed
August 2007FloodBenson$50,000no account filed
May 2008FloodBenson$25,000no account filed
June 2008FloodBenson$25,000no account filed
April 2008FloodBenson$10,000Butler Rd was closed just south of Beaver Valley Rd.
November 2009FloodBenson$10,000no account filed
April 2008FloodBenson$10,000no account filed
April 2008FloodBenson$10,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson-no account filed
June 2013FloodBenson-no account filed
April 2011FloodBenson-no account filed
July 2010FloodBenson-no account filed
May 2009FloodBenson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Black Hawk 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
Norris Siding3.3 miles12
North Cedar4.7 miles12
Cedar Falls5.2 miles12
Cedar City5.4 miles12
Finchford5.8 miles9
Lamplighter Villa6.5 miles12
Castle Hill8.0 miles12
Cedar Falls Junction9.4 miles10

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 BensonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q115473411The 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 464458. 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.