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Pathfork, Kentucky

24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1977. It stands in the Alva census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40863. It stands on Path Fork. The Survey maps it on the Wallins Creek quadrangle. 326 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,240 feet above sea level.

Pathfork within Harlan County

Population over time

2 figures

Pathfork fell from 379 to 326 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.

YearPeople Change
2010379
2020326-53 (-14%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 24 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

106 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 106 fires within 5 miles of Pathfork between 1997 and 2020, burning about 8,271 acres in total. None started naturally. 35 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 burning42
Arson/incendiarism35
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Recreation and ceremony4
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
23 September 2007Debris and open burning17 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
22 September 2008Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
6 July 2010Debris and open burning1.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryCOLD IRON
3 July 2007Debris and open burning4.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
3 May 2006Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
3 May 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
17 May 2000Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
14 May 2000Arson/incendiarism7.0 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

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Pathfork: 3 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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
Jesse Spur RoadcutClayProspect
Kentenia ShaleClayProspect
Wallins Creek South ShaleClayProspect

Every working recorded in Harlan County

Storms near this place

4 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pathfork in 4 storm reports between 2000 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind. 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
May 2024Thunderstorm WindPathfork-A tree was downed and blocking KY-2005 near the Pathfork community.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindPathfork-Dispatch relayed a report of a tree blown down onto Kentucky Highway 72 near Pathfork.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindPathfork-Tree down along Highway 2005.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindPathfork-Trees down.

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
Insull1.3 miles24
Alva2.6 miles28
Creech3.8 miles24
Twila3.9 miles24
Molus4.2 miles24
Kentenia4.4 miles24
Coldiron4.9 miles24
South Wallins5.0 miles24

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 PathforkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q11698334The 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 500236. 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.