New Salem, Kentucky
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the South Crittenden census division. It lies in ZIP code area 42064. It stands on New Salem Creek. The Survey maps it on the Salem quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 21 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.
- 1916 USGS Cave in Rock quadrangle1:62500
- 1916 USGS Fords Ferry quadrangle1:62500
- 1921 USGS Fords Ferry quadrangle1:48000
- 1925 USGS Cave In Rock quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1949 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Salem quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Cave In Rock quadrangle1:62500
- 1961 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Paducah quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
24 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of New Salem between 1998 and 2017, burning about 254 acres 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.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 July 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | BROWNS MI |
| 28 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | FRITZ RD. |
| 25 June 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 5 April 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 14 April 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 12 April 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 5 March 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 10 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 5 March 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 89 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 89 workings within 5 miles of New Salem: 44 past producers, 17 prospects, 14 occurrences, 9 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Fluorine-Fluorite, Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Lead, Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryant Prospect | Cobalt, Nickel, Zinc | Prospect | 1901 | |
| Columbia Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Givens Prospect | Zinc, Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt, Diatomite | Past Producer | 1900 | |
| Babb Group Fluorspar Mines | Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Lead, Barium-Barite | Producer | 1899 | |
| Dike - Eaton Group Fluorspar Mines | Fluorine-Fluorite, Zinc, Lead, Barium-Barite | Producer | 1900 | |
| La Rue | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1933, 1934 | |
| Moore Hill Group Fluorspar Mines | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc | Producer | 1900 | |
| Babb-Barnes Concentrator | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc | Plant | ||
| Babb-Barnes Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1899, 1974 | |
| Ben Belt Mine | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2021Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names New Salem in 3 storm reports between 2021 and 2025: 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2021 | Flash Flood | New Salem | $100,000 | Several roads were closed due to flooding, including Kentucky Highway 855 north of Frances between Kentucky 70 and U.S. Highway 60. Kentucky Highway 902 was closed near the Caldwell County line. Heavy rains washed out approaches on either end of a county road bridge across Dry Fork Creek. The road was closed indefinitely. The county road foreman reported widespread damage around the county, but the bridge over Dry Fork Creek was the most severe. Crittenden County received $100,000 in state emergency funds to assist with repairs to about ten roads damaged during this round of flash flooding. A narrow corridor of excessive rainfall occurred where storms trained across the same areas for several hours. Radar estimated 6 to 9 inches fell in a narrow corridor of west Kentucky from central Livingston across southern Crittenden County. There were a few confirmed rainfall measurements of 7-plus inches in southern Crittenden County. |
| February 2025 | Flash Flood | New Salem | - | Flash flooding closed Highway 855 between Frances and New Salem. |
| February 2025 | Flood | New Salem | - | Flash flooding earlier in the evening transitioned to areal flooding before midnight. Highway 855 between Frances and New Salem remained closed. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union (historical) | 1.5 miles | 21 | |
| Midway | 1.8 miles | 21 | |
| Levias | 1.8 miles | 21 | |
| Sisco Chapel (historical) | 3.0 miles | 21 | |
| Owens School (historical) | 3.2 miles | 18 | |
| View | 3.3 miles | 21 | |
| Siloem (historical) | 3.6 miles | 21 | |
| Pleasant Grove (historical) | 3.7 miles | 21 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 508695. 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.













