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Baxter, Kentucky

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Harlan census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40806. It stands on Poor Fork Cumberland River. The Survey maps it on the Harlan quadrangle. It stands 1,211 feet above sea level.

Baxter within Harlan County

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 25 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

189 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 189 fires within 5 miles of Baxter between 1997 and 2020, burning about 13,368 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 33 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 burning73
Missing data/not specified/undetermined61
Arson/incendiarism33
Recreation and ceremony16
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1

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
8 September 1999Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
25 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined30 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2007Debris and open burning8.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
21 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
19 August 2019Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryPINE BRANCH FIRE
23 July 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
21 July 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Harlan County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Baxter: 1 producer, 1 prospect. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Harlan MineStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Pine Mountain Sandstone OutcropSilicaProspect

Every working recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

12 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Baxter in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2018FloodBaxter$5,000Local broadcast media and dispatch relayed reports of nearly 3 feet of standing water in a poor drainage area on Duffield Street in Harlan. Farther southwest of Harlan, runoff caused Little Creek in Crawford Branch to develop a swift enough current to wash out a culvert on a driveway on Kentucky Highway 2425.
April 2025HailBaxter-In addition to downed trees from thunderstorm winds, the social media report also showed quarter sized hail along KY-413 in Baxter, just north of Harlan.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindBaxter-A picture on social media showed a downed tree along KY-413 in the community of Baxter, just north of Harlan.
March 2021Flash FloodBaxter-Officials were in the process of closing one lane of Hwy 119 due to high water over the road.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindBaxter-Trees were blown down.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBaxter-Trees were blown down and power outages were occurring on US Hwy 421.
April 2007Flash FloodBaxter-Three inches of flowing water on Highway 421 at Baxter.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindBaxter-Large trees downed.
February 2009HailBaxter-no account filed
May 2005HailBaxter-no account filed
May 2004HailBaxter-no account filed
May 1998HailBaxter-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Harlan 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
Harlan1.2 miles25
Clovertown1.3 miles25
Loyall1.3 miles25
Harlan Gas1.5 miles25
Sunshine1.6 miles25
Rex1.7 miles25
Gatun1.8 miles25
Rio Vista1.9 miles25

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 BaxterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4873821The 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 486480. 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.