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Lapwai, Idaho

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Nez Perce census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83540. It lies near Soldiers Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Lapwai quadrangle. 1,169 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 955 feet above sea level.

Lapwai within Nez Perce County

On record in Lapwai

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

Lapwai grew from 1,137 to 1,169 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
20101,137
20201,169+32 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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

276 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 276 fires within 5 miles of Lapwai between 1992 and 2020, burning about 10,795 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 5 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
Fireworks94
Debris and open burning41
Equipment and vehicle use38
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Smoking16
Natural14
Power generation/transmission/distribution11
Other causes9
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Recreation and ceremony8
Arson/incendiarism5
Railroad operations and maintenance3

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
9 September 2005Fireworksunder an acreNez Perce TribeOVERTHILL
8 September 2008Railroad operations and maintenance2.0 acresNez Perce TribeBOOM GROUNDS RR
7 September 2005Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNez Perce TribeSWEETWATER
7 September 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNez Perce TribeCARVALLEY
7 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNez Perce TribePUMPKINFIR
7 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresNez Perce TribeBOYER
6 September 1995Natural80 acresNez Perce TribeLYLEGULCH
30 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNez Perce TribeROCKY TOP

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Nez Perce County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Lapwai: 5 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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
Spalding PitStoneProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Nez Perce County

Storms near this place

12 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lapwai in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 4 flood, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 1998Thunderstorm WindLapwai1 hurt, $25,000power lines down and trees blown down. one tree blown down onto trailer house. 1 male injured.
May 2005Flash FloodLapwai$4,000,000A slow moving thunderstorm moved 2 miles east of the town of Lapwai on the afternoon of the 8th of May. An estimated 2 to 3 inches fell across the headwaters of Garden Gulch Creek in about an hour. A flash flood then raced through Garden Gulch and flooded out structures, killed some livestock and washed out roads to the intersection of State Route 95 and Garden Gulch Road. An estimated 4 million dollars in property and roads was estimated in a five mile swath along Garden Gulch.
April 2011FloodNorth Lapwai$600,000Flooding of several creeks and streams resulted in damage, closures, and evacuations along numerous roads along with minor flooding of six homes. Roads that were damaged include Webb Road, McCormack Ridge Road, Garden Gulch Road near Highway 95, Cottonwood Creek Road, Flatiron Road, and Mission Creek Road near Highway 95. Reservation Line Road and Webb Canal Road were also closed for a short time due to flooding. The worst of the flooding occurred along Webb Creek which flooded several low-lying areas, including the junction with Highway 95 and the junction with McCormick Ridge Road where reports stated water covered the bridge at the junction of McCormick Ridge Road. The Web Store Smoke Shop was inundated with approximately one foot of water. Around six homes along Webb Road experienced flooding up to the homes foundations. Mission Creek also spilled out of its banks with water reported to be flowing down Mission Creek Road, over the Mission Creek Bridge, and into nearby pastures and front yards. Sweetwater Creek, Lapwai Creek and Cottonwood Creek also had minor flooding with the Spalding church suffering the greatest damage. A culvert was plugged along Lapwai Creek near the intersection of Highway 95 and Garden Gulch Road causing road damage and a two day road closure. A plugged culvert along Sweetwater Creek led to approximately 30 feet of pavement erosion along Flatiron Road and 1500 feet of ditch and shoulder erosion. The Emergency Manager of Nez Perce County estimated flood damage to the roads was around $74,000 with most of the damage along Flatiron Road and Garden Gulch Road near Highway 95. On the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, at least one septic tank was compromised due to flooding. The flooding caused basement flooding in at least four homes throughout the reservation. Two private bridges were destroyed or compromised and classified as unsafe for use.
June 2022FloodLapwai$20,000The Lapwai church is flooded. it was unknown how deep the water was and extent of damage.
April 2019FloodLapwai$2,000Lapwai Creek flooded bottom lands and flowed over Highway 95 in places between Lapwai and Culdesac causing the temporary closure of this primary route through the region. A few homes were threatened by the flood waters but no damage to any structures was reported.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindLapwai$1,000The Nez Perce County Emergency Manager reported power lines blown down in the town of Lapwai.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindLapwai$1,000Thunderstorm winds blew down large tree branches southwest of Lapwai and blew down road signs near Culdesac. This thunderstorm also stirred up large amounts of blowing dust which reduced visibility to near zero at times.
June 2015Flash FloodLapwai$100Law enforcement reported water over painted horse lane in Lapwai, Idaho.
June 2022FloodNorth Lapwai-Flooding over banks of clearwater river at the intersection of highway 12 and highway 95.
July 2012HailLapwai-The report was from Valley Gas in Lapwai.
July 2012HailLapwai-Report from Nez Perce Tribal Police.
May 2009HailLapwai-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Nez Perce 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
Sweetwater2.3 miles9
Spalding3.0 miles10
North Lapwai3.1 miles10
Joseph3.2 miles10
Bundy3.9 miles9
Webb4.5 miles9
Jacques4.7 miles9
Arrow5.4 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 LapwaiAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1518002The 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 396768. 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.