BlockBefore

Calamus, Iowa

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Olive Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52729. The Survey maps it on the Wheatland quadrangle. 356 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 699 feet above sea level.

Calamus within Clinton County

On record in Calamus

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Calamus fell from 439 to 356 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
2010439
2020356-83 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 15 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

1 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Calamus in 2008, burning about 3 acres 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
1 November 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Clinton County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Calamus: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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
Old Rr M Jacobsn PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Clinton County

Storms near this place

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Calamus in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2020: 8 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 1 lightning. 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 1995HailCalamus$250,000no account filed
June 2010Thunderstorm WindCalamus$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew some shingles off of some roofs about 2 miles south southwest of Calamus, IA at 706 pm June 18.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindCalamus$5,000Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph blew down several trees and utility poles in Calamus, IA around 900 pm July 24.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindCalamus$2,000trees and power lines down
June 2006LightningCalamus$2,000Fascia off a building with bricks laying all over with a power feeder line on the ground
July 2020Thunderstorm WindCalamus-A large tree was blown down in Calamus, blocking a roadway.
April 2017HailCalamus-This report was relayed via broadcast media (KWQC). The time of the event was estimated using radar.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindCalamus-A public drone video showed that two apparent severe thunderstorm down-bursts had damaged corn in a field south of Calamus.
July 2015HailCalamus-Hail the size of golf balls fell, along with a few that were a little smaller than a tennis ball.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindCalamus-A trained spotter reported trees down all over town along with shingles blown off roofs.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindCalamus-Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down some 6 inch diameter tree limbs about 2 miles south southwest of Calamus, IA at 142 pm June 18.
May 2001Funnel CloudCalamus-Reported by public.
June 2001Funnel CloudCalamus-Reported by public.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCalamus-Tree blown down on a house. Reported by law enforcement.
June 2015HailCalamus-no account filed
June 2015HailCalamus-no account filed
July 2015HailCalamus-no account filed
July 2015HailCalamus-no account filed
July 2015HailCalamus-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Clinton 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
Wheatland4.3 miles15
Grand Mound5.8 miles15
Buena Vista5.9 miles18
Bliedorn6.8 miles13
Toronto7.8 miles13
Lost Nation10.0 miles13
North Welton10.1 miles14
Welton10.3 miles14

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 CalamusAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q739891The 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 455040. 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.