West Ishpeming, Michigan
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Ishpeming Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49849. It lies near Pilot Knob. The Survey maps it on the Ishpeming quadrangle. 2,552 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,440 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresWest Ishpeming fell from 2,792 to 2,552 between 2000 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2,792 | |
| 2010 | 2,662 | -130 (-5%) |
| 2020 | 2,552 | -110 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 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.
- 1952 USGS Ishpeming quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1952 USGS Ishpeming quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Gwinn quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
40 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 40 fires within 5 miles of West Ishpeming between 1994 and 2020, burning about 41 acres in total. 2 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 | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.1 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 11 August 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | HARD ROCK FIRE |
| 30 July 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 July 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 145 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 145 workings within 5 miles of West Ishpeming: 84 past producers, 28 prospects, 21 occurrences, 10 producers. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Gold, Molybdenum, Copper, Lead, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold&Copper&Tungsten&Zinc Prospect | Copper, Gold, Tungsten, Zinc | Occurrence | ||
| Mi.Verde Antique Co.Dolomite Quarry | Marble, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Ropes | Gold, Silver | Plant | 1880, 1882 | |
| Unnamed Copper and Tungsten Prospec | Copper, Tungsten | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Copper and Zinc Prospect | Copper, Zinc | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Copper&Molybdenum Prospect | Copper, Molybdenum | Occurrence | ||
| Ropes Mine | Gold, Silver | Producer | 1880, 1882, 1989 | |
| Superior Gold & Silver Exploration | Gold, Silver | Prospect | 1889 | |
| Unnamed Copper Prospect | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Copper Prospect | Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
5 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Ishpeming in 5 storm reports between 1998 and 2020: 3 hail, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Ishpeming | $10,000 | A few trees uprooted or snapped and branches broken off in the South Angeline/Salisbury/Terrace Street area south of Ishpeming. One large branch fell on a car breaking the back window and doing additional body damage. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Ishpeming | $1,000 | There was a report of half a tree down and a power outage near Ishpeming from thunderstorm winds. Time of the report was estimated from radar. |
| June 2018 | Hail | West Ishpeming | - | Penny-sized hail was reported just west of Ishpeming. |
| May 2015 | Hail | West Ishpeming | - | There were delayed public reports via social media of nickel-sized hail in West Ishpeming. |
| May 1998 | Hail | West Ishpeming | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winthrop Junction | 0.9 miles | 15 | |
| Frenchtown | 1.4 miles | 15 | |
| Lake Angeline | 1.4 miles | 15 | |
| Salisbury | 1.4 miles | 15 | |
| North Lake | 1.6 miles | 15 | |
| Ishpeming | 1.8 miles | 15 | |
| National Mine | 2.0 miles | 15 | |
| Greenwood | 2.9 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 West Ishpeming | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2294092 | 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 1616125. 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.






