Sweetwater, Idaho
9 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 stands on Sweetwater Creek. The Survey maps it on the Sweetwater quadrangle. 155 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,096 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSweetwater grew from 143 to 155 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 | 143 | |
| 2020 | 155 | +12 (+8%) |
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.
- 1955 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Lewiston Orchards quadrangle1:62500
- 1958 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sweetwater quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Orofino quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
248 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 248 fires within 5 miles of Sweetwater between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,387 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Fireworks | 88 |
| Debris and open burning | 41 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 33 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Other causes | 9 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2005 | Fireworks | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | OVERTHILL |
| 7 September 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | SWEETWATER |
| 7 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | CARVALLEY |
| 7 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | PUMPKINFIR |
| 7 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Nez Perce Tribe | BOYER |
| 6 September 1995 | Natural | 80 acres | Nez Perce Tribe | LYLEGULCH |
| 30 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | ROCKY TOP |
| 30 September 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Nez Perce Tribe | SMOKEHOUSE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Sweetwater: 3 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sweetwater in 2 storm reports between 2014 and 2022: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | Flood | Sweetwater | $20,000 | Driveway washout reported to law enforcement for residence along us95. |
| August 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sweetwater | $100 | A tree was blown down on MCatty Road. Heavy rain accompanied the storm causing small rocks and mud to flow onto Thunder Hill Road. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundy | 2.0 miles | 9 | |
| Lapwai | 2.3 miles | 10 | |
| Webb | 2.9 miles | 9 | |
| Jacques | 3.5 miles | 9 | |
| Snow (historical) | 5.0 miles | 9 | |
| Spalding | 5.3 miles | 10 | |
| North Lapwai | 5.4 miles | 10 | |
| Joseph | 5.5 miles | 10 |
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 Sweetwater | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3978796 | 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 398208. 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.




