Blakes, Illinois

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.

• 1892 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
• 1915 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 7 printings
• 1946 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1958 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
• 1961 USGS Aurora quadrangle1:250000
• 1970 USGS Wedron quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1985 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000
• 1991 USGS Ottawa quadrangle1:100000

History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Blakes in 2015, burning about 1 acre 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:

• Serena
• Sulphur Springs
• Wedron
• Catharine
• Danway
• Dayton

Every fire recorded in LaSalle County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Blakes: 5 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

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 422472. 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.