BlockBig Springs, Kansas
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1960. It stands in Lecompton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 66050. The Survey maps it on the Perry quadrangle. It stands 1,102 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 24 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.
- 1886 USGS Oskaloosa quadrangle1:125000
- 1888 USGS Oskaloosa quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Oskaloosa quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1949 USGS Perry quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1950 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Perry quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1954 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Kansas City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
122 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Big Springs between 2015 and 2020, burning about 1,834 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 52 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Shawnee County | 938 |
| 15 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 10 acres | Kansas Forest Service | 1017 |
| 5 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 184 |
| 3 August 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 18058 |
| 13 August 2018 | Fireworks | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 900 |
| 8 July 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 8755 |
| 4 July 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 736 |
| 4 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kansas Forest Service | 2018125 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Big Springs: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Topeka Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Springs in 1 storm report in 1993: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1993 | Hail | Big Springs | $500,000 | The supercell thunderstorm that moved across parts of northeast Kansas hit the northern half of Douglas County including the city of Lawrence at late afternoon. Numerous and widespread reports of large hail and winds clocked at 66kts caused significant and large scale damage from near Le Compton to Lawrence to Eudora. Many power lines were brought down along with trees and large limbs. Hail damage was common across Lawrence. Torrential rainfall in a short time flooded many roads. In some areas, winds were estimated at 100 mph. The storm briefly stalled across the northwest part of the county before regenerating and moving slow east again. |
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.
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 Big Springs | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4906444 | 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 484942. 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.