Steamboat Rock, Iowa
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Clay Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50672. It stands on Elk Creek. The Survey maps it on the Steamboat Rock quadrangle. 264 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,014 feet above sea level.
On record in Steamboat Rock
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
Steamboat Rock Consolidated Schools Buildinglisted 2004
Population over time
2 figuresSteamboat Rock fell from 310 to 264 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 310 | |
| 2020 | 264 | -46 (-15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1954 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Waterloo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Steamboat Rock quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Ames quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
13 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Steamboat Rock between 2006 and 2020, burning about 131 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 July 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 July 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 June 2018 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 7 April 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 7.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 April 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 17 April 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | 1.5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ELDORA, IA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Steamboat Rock: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eldora Pipe and Tile Co. | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Crosser Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Frericks Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Hardin City Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
25 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Steamboat Rock in 25 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 4 heavy rain, 3 tornado. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | $30,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | $20,000 | Law Enforcement reported several large trees and power lines down in Steamboat Rock. At least 2 power poles snapped in half just west of Steamboat Rock on D35. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | $10,000 | Large trees blown down. |
| November 2005 | Tornado (F0) | Steamboat Rock | $10,000 | Brief tornado touchdown north of Steamboat Rock. |
| May 2004 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Lightning | Steamboat Rock | $3,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | $2,000 | no account filed |
| April 2007 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Heavy Rain | Steamboat Rock | - | Total rainfall since midnight of 3.46 inches. |
| May 2024 | Heavy Rain | Steamboat Rock | - | Measured 1 inch in 20 minutes. Cannot see across road due to heavy rain. |
| August 2022 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | - | Delayed report relayed by broadcast media. Time estimated via radar. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | Steamboat Rock | - | Coop observer reported a 24 hour rainfall total of 3.2 inches. |
| May 2019 | Funnel Cloud | Steamboat Rock | - | Law enforcement reported a funnel cloud. |
| May 2019 | Tornado (EFU) | Steamboat Rock | - | Weak tornado reported northeast of Steamboat Rock along with spotter video. Remained in open farmland. Rated EF-Unknown as no damage indicators were impacted. |
| June 2018 | Funnel Cloud | Steamboat Rock | - | Trained spotter reported a rotating wall cloud with funnel. |
| June 2016 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | - | Media reported hail ranging from pea to nickel size. Time estimated from radar. |
| August 2015 | Heavy Rain | Steamboat Rock | - | Mesonet report of heavy rainfall of 5.24 inches through 3 pm. |
| August 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | - | Recorded at a mesonet site. |
| July 2011 | Funnel Cloud | Steamboat Rock | - | Spotter reported a funnel cloud 5 miles east of Eldora. |
| June 2009 | Tornado (EF0) | Steamboat Rock | - | The tornado was on the ground briefly with a small debris cloud. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | - | Wind gust measured by the Steamboat Rock RWIS site. |
| May 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Steamboat Rock | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Steamboat Rock | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eldora | 3.8 miles | 9 | |
| Cleves | 4.5 miles | 9 | |
| Hughs | 4.9 miles | 9 | |
| Berlin | 5.1 miles | 9 | |
| Abbott | 5.2 miles | 9 | |
| Abbott Crossing (historical) | 5.8 miles | 9 | |
| Eagle City | 6.0 miles | 9 | |
| Secor (historical) | 6.8 miles | 9 |
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 Steamboat Rock | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925235 | The 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 461977. 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.




