Columbia, Iowa

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.

• 1924 USGS Melcher quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
• 1954 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1982 USGS Melcher quadrangle1:24000
• 1984 USGS Indianola quadrangle1:100000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Columbia between 2006 and 2020, burning about 288 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Cloud (historical)
• Gosport
• Cordova (historical)
• Donley Station (historical)
• Donnelley
• Eifield (historical)

Every fire recorded in Marion County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Columbia: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Zinc, Flagstone, 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.

Every working recorded in Marion County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Columbia in 24 storm reports between 2003 and 2022: 11 heavy rain, 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 2 hail. The reports record 10 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.

Every storm recorded in Marion County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 455541. 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.