Spencer, Idaho
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the East Clark census division. It lies in ZIP code area 83446. It lies near Huntley Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Spencer South quadrangle. 31 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,909 feet above sea level.
On record in Spencer
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
Spencer Rock Houselisted 1989
Population over time
2 figuresSpencer fell from 37 to 31 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 | 37 | |
| 2020 | 31 | -6 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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.
- 1955 USGS Dubois quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Dubois quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Spencer South quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Dubois quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
11 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Spencer between 1993 and 2019, burning about 74 acres in total. 2 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 ceremony | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | DRY |
| 28 August 1997 | Recreation and ceremony | 55 acres | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | DRY CREEK |
| 26 August 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.0 acres | Idaho Falls District | RAILROAD |
| 13 August 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17 acres | Idaho Falls District | CHINA POINT |
| 8 July 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | SIGNAL |
| 3 July 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | WEST DRY CREEK |
| 28 July 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | STODDARD CREEK |
| 12 July 1996 | Smoking | under an acre | Caribou-Targhee National Forest | CORRAL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Spencer: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gemstone, Antimony, Silver, Gold. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Pine Group | Antimony, Silver, Gold | Prospect | ||
| Opal Mountain Mine | Gemstone | Past Producer | ||
| Spencer Opal Mine | Semiprecious Gemstone | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spencer in 7 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 2 flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2017 | Flood | Spencer | $67,000 | Some minor flooding and road damage occurred from a combination of snow melt with the extensive warmup during the month. |
| March 2017 | Flood | Spencer | $10,000 | Minor sheet flooding from snow melt continued in March but effects were minimal and mainly limited to road damage and some field flooding. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | - | A 60 mph thunderstorm outflow measured at the Blue Dome mesonet site. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Spencer | - | A 64 mph wind gust was measured at the China Point ITD site. |
| August 2014 | Hail | Spencer | - | One inch hail reported in Spencer. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Spencer | - | Heavy rain in thunderstorms caused flooding of one house south of Spencer. |
| July 2001 | Flash Flood | Spencer | - | Localized flooding occurred from 1.5 to 2.0 inches of rain in 2 hours in the northern portions of the town of Spencer. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Beaver | 3.5 miles | 8 | |
| Highbridge | 5.5 miles | 8 | |
| Humphrey | 9.2 miles | 8 | |
| Dubois | 12.9 miles | 8 | |
| Idmon | 14.6 miles | 9 | |
| Eighteenmile | 15.6 miles | 9 | |
| Kilgore | 15.8 miles | 9 | |
| Jones Crossing | 19.0 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 Spencer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1519718 | 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 398161. 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.



