Quicksand, Kentucky
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Hardshell census division. It lies in ZIP code area 41339. It stands on Rose Branch. The Survey maps it on the Quicksand quadrangle. It stands 810 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 14 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.
- 1889 USGS Salyersville quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Salyersville quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1899 USGS Salyersville quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1951 USGS Quicksand quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Jenkins quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Quicksand quadrangle1:24000
- 1972 USGS Quicksand quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1982 USGS Irvine quadrangle1:100000
Photographs
1 photograph, 1940Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Wolcott, Marion Post, 1940. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
238 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 238 fires within 5 miles of Quicksand between 1997 and 2020, burning about 14,199 acres in total. None started naturally. 41 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 | 109 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 41 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 17 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1998 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 7.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 5 September 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 30 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 3 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 3 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 15 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
| 14 September 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Kentucky Division of Forestry | not named |
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 Quicksand: 1 prospect. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillside Roadcut | Clay | Prospect |
Storms near this place
22 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Quicksand in 22 storm reports between 2008 and 2026: 11 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 2 heavy rain, 2 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | $8,000 | Several trees were blown down across Highway 1098 by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| August 2020 | Flash Flood | Quicksand | $5,000 | Heavy rains caused water to rise quickly at the Happy Church in the Quicksand community just outside of Jackson. An NWS employee was on site and said it eventually surrounded a portion of a home on the property, and then began seeping through a ground-level door into the walkout basement, flooding the basement. The nearby mesonet reported 2.30 inches of rainfall during this event. |
| January 2010 | Flood | Quicksand | $5,000 | Kentucky Highway 1098 washed out at Smiths Branch about 2 miles up from Highway 15. |
| October 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | $2,000 | Trees were blown down in Quicksand. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | $1,000 | A retired NWS employee reported a tree blown down onto power lines about a mile up Lick Branch Road resulting in a power outage. |
| March 2015 | Flood | Quicksand | $1,000 | South Fork Rd, or KY 1098, was flooded and impassable. |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Quicksand | $1,000 | A water rescue was attempted along Smith Branch Road near Saldee. The car was driven into swift water and became stranded. The driver was rescued without injury. The car ended up being submerged up to its headlights by 2 to 3 feet of water with the water around it still rising. |
| December 2013 | Flood | Quicksand | $1,000 | South Fork Creek was over the road at mile marker 2 on KY 1098. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | $1,000 | A tree was blown down on Hwy 1098 between mile markers 1 and 2 at South Fork. |
| January 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | $1,000 | One tree was blown down onto Route 15 by wind gusts estimated at 61 mph. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | A retired NWS employee reported wind gusts estimated near 60 mph in the vicinity of the Happy Church. |
| May 2025 | Flood | Quicksand | - | A photo was shared that showed at least a foot of water over Quicksand Road at the Happy Church in the Quicksand community. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet trucks were manning both sides of the water to deter vehicles from crossing. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | A tree was reported down on KY-1098, about 2 miles from KY-15 near Jackson. |
| January 2022 | Heavy Rain | Quicksand | - | The Kentucky Mesonet station in Breathitt County (QKSD) measured 3.21 inches of rainfall in a 48-hour period ending at 7am on January 2, 2022. |
| March 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | Large tree limbs were blown down in near the Happy Church in the Quicksand community. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Quicksand | - | A NWS employee reported half dollar-sized (1.25 inch) hail near the Happy Church off of Quicksand Rd. |
| August 2020 | Flood | Quicksand | - | After heavy rains moved through the area, some parts of KY-1098 were noted having an excess amount of standing water along them. There is a creek that runs along the road and commonly floods the road. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | A wooden shed was blown over at Headstart. A heavy plastic play set was also blown from the playground. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | A mobile home was overturned by thunderstorm wind gusts in the Millers Trailer Court. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Quicksand | - | Large limbs were blown down at the Happy Church. |
| September 2012 | Heavy Rain | Quicksand | - | According to the Quicksand mesonet site, 3.73 inches of rain fell between 545 pm and 910 pm at Quicksand. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Quicksand | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kragon | 1.5 miles | 14 | |
| Portsmouth | 1.6 miles | 14 | |
| Noctor | 2.1 miles | 14 | |
| Jackson | 2.6 miles | 14 | |
| Panhandle | 2.8 miles | 14 | |
| Haddix | 2.9 miles | 13 | |
| Lost Creek | 3.4 miles | 13 | |
| Flintville | 3.9 miles | 13 |
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 Quicksand | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7271757 | 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 501479. 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.








