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Red Lake County, Minnesota

30 topographic sheets cover 12 settlements here, and 2 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research this county

From the record

2 National Register listings published here.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

Minnesota within the United States
Red Lake County within Minnesota

What the record shows

  • 120 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
  • 2 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places: 2 buildings.
  • The Geographic Names Information System records 12 populated places in this county; 12 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.

Places on the National Register

2

Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.

Photograph PropertyType ListedReference
Clearwater Evangelical Lutheran Churchbuilding199999001386
Red Lake County Courthousebuilding198383000941

Wildfire, 1992 to 2016

8 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 8 of them, burning about 123 acres. None started naturally and 1 was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.

Reported cause Fires
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. One of them was set deliberately.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
1 October 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined94 acresGlacial RidgeRED LAKE FIRE
15 August 2013Debris and open burning20 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
5 May 2011Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresRed Lake AgencyRED LAKE 192
6 May 1995Misuse of fire by a minor2.0 acresRed Lake AgencyR257
15 October 1996Debris and open burning2.0 acresRed Lake AgencyR260
1 April 1992Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreRed Lake Agencynot named
26 May 1996Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreRed Lake AgencyR191
20 March 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreGlacial RidgeDITCH 64

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1967 to 2025

60 of 216 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 216 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 1 injury and about $4,047,700 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event Reports
Hail112
Thunderstorm Wind63
Tornado20
Flash Flood13
Flood5
Funnel Cloud2
Lightning1

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Tornado (EF1)Dorothy1 hurtThis tornado tracked northeastward for roughly 2 miles. The tornado blew a parked semi tractor-trailer rig off the highway and injured the driver. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.
July 1980Tornado (F2)not stated$2,500,000no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$500,000The roof was torn off a new apartment building and blown into a field. Many trees were blown down, some into homes and powerlines. The roof was torn off of one mobile home while another was flipped over. 13 grain bins were damaged, 6 completely destroyed. The county highway department building was reduced to rubble and one truck inside was damaged.
April 2022Flash FloodTerrebonne$250,000Portions of County Road 92, between Plummer and Red Lake Falls were closed off due to debris jams and flooding along the Clearwater River. The Clearwater River at Plummer rose over 6 feet by the evening of the 23rd, due to the combination of a rapid snowmelt and from 1 to 2 inches of rainfall in the river basin.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$150,0008 grain bins were damaged and a semi trailer was overturned.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindBrooks$125,0006 large grain bins were destroyed.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls$110,000An airplane hanger and a crop dusting airplane were destroyed by the strong wind.
April 2006FloodCountywide$109,000Due to the quick snowmelt, water quickly drained into low areas, damaging many roads and bridges around the county. Red Lake County received a Presidential Disaster Declaration for damages caused by spring flooding.
June 2002LightningRed Lake Falls$100,000Lightning hit the county courthouse, which also houses the sheriff's department. The department's computers, phone lines, and 911 system were damaged.
May 2001Thunderstorm WindDorothy$30,000A barn roof was torn off and thrown in a nearby ditch, damaging the top of a silo as it went by.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls$25,000A pole barn sustained roof and door damage and a communications tower was blown over.
June 1978Tornado (F2)not stated$25,000no account filed
July 1967Tornado (F1)not stated$25,000no account filed
July 2006Tornado (F0)Huot$20,000A tornado touched down intermittently along a 2.5 mile track to the south, which began in Red Lake county and ended in Polk county. The tornado swirled swaths of grain and flipped a shed door up onto the shed roof. It also broke off numerous large tree branches in shelterbelts along its path. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph.
May 2001HailRed Lake Falls$20,000Eight windows in a house, 2 garage windows, and a car window were broken by the large hail.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls$15,000A 3 stall garage was destroyed.
May 2010Flash FloodPlummer$10,000Numerous farm fields were flooded across the central and eastern portions of Red Lake County.
May 2010Flash FloodRed Lake Falls$5,000Several sections of farm land were flooded by excessive rainfall. A few farm access roads were also under water.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindOklee$5,000The strong wind blew a trailer off its foundation and its entryway was blown off. Several trees were blown over and a pole shed was damaged.
April 2009FloodWylie$5,000no account filed
March 2009FloodDorothy$5,000no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindBrooks$3,000Numerous trees were blown down.
June 1975Tornado (F0)not stated$2,500no account filed
July 2006Tornado (F0)Red Lake Falls$2,000The tornado continued intermittently along the 2.5 mile damage track. Numerous large tree branches were broken off in shelterbelts along the track and large hay bales were tumbled around. Peak winds were estimated at about 70 mph.
July 2001Flash FloodRed Lake Falls$2,000Street flooding was reported in Red Lake Falls.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindHuot$2,000Strong wind blew over a shed and several trees.
July 2001Flash FloodPlummer$1,000Water was reported over Highway 1.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindOklee$500Branches were blown down.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindDorothy$500no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls$200A large tree was blown down.
August 2025HailPlummer-Measured hail stone shown with ruler in picture shared on social media south of Plummer. Hail stone was picked up 45 minutes after it fell. Time estimated by radar.
August 2025HailOklee-Report of quarter size hail in Oklee.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls-Roofing panels blown off 3 buildings on the west side of Red Lake Falls. Time estimated from radar.
August 2025HailRed Lake Falls-Hail fell for 15 minutes with largest hail stones up to 2 inches in Red Lake Falls. Time estimated by radar.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindBrooks-MN dot mesonet station MN068 Brooks, MN.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindBrooks-Measured gust at MN dot MN068 Brooks, MN.
August 2023HailPerault-Public reports quarter sized hail 5 SSW Red Lake Falls. States beans and corn crop suffered damage. Beans stripped to the stems.
June 2022HailBrooks-Hail Quarter To Golf Ball Sized. Trees Uprooted. Reports And Photos Posted To Social Media.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBrooks-Multiple semi truck trailer combinations were blown off hwy 59, between Brooks and Plummer. Time estimated based on radar.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Semi truck trailer combination blown over near Oklee. Numerous large trees snapped or uprooted across lambert township. Several farmstead steel grain bins caved in, at least one collapsed. Thunderstorm wind gusts estimated from 80 to 90 mph in a 2 to 3 mile wide path. Winds in excess of 60 mph were reported over a several mile wide area. Time estimated based on radar.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Numerous poplar, ash, box elder, and spruce trees were snapped or uprooted across farmsteads in Garnes and Equality townships between 440 and 448 pm cdt. A pole shed was blown open and metal sheathing and roofing spread downwind for over half a mile.
May 2022HailOklee-Received a video of very heavy rain accompanied by 1-inch hail via social media.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBrooks-Peak wind was measured at a MNDOT RWIS station on Hwy 59.
June 2022HailOklee-Photo and report of 1 inch hail was received via social media. Time estimated based on radar.
May 2022HailOklee-Hail ranging from the size of ping pong balls to golf balls was reported, with photos sent via social media.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindOklee-Received a report of large tree branches and limbs broken. Power outages reported.
July 2022HailRed Lake Falls Arpt-Received a public report of heavy rain and hail up to the size of quarters.
July 2022HailPlummer-Received a public report of up to penny sized hail and very heavy rain.
September 2020Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls-The wind gust was estimated.
September 2020Thunderstorm WindTerrebonne-The wind gust was measured by a personal weather station.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBrooks-Large branches were blown down and numerous power outages were reported.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindPlummer-A few large tree branches were blown down in shelterbelts.
August 2020HailOklee-Dime to quarter sized hail fell.
September 2019HailDorothy-Winds also gusted to around 50 mph.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBrooks-The wind gust was measured by a MNDOT RWIS sensor.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindBrooks-Numerous four to six inch diameter tree branches were broken down in shelterbelts across southern Poplar River Township. A nearby MNDOT RWIS mesonet station also lost power.
May 2016Tornado (EF0)Oklee-Two funnel clouds were noted between Brooks and Oklee between 110 and 115 PM CST, with at least one brief touchdown reported in an open field.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindRed Lake Falls-Many large tree branches were blown down. Large sections of roofing were peeled off a warehouse on the south side of town.
July 2016Tornado (EF1)Dorothy-The tornado began in Polk County, and tracked intermittently for about five miles to two miles southeast of Dorothy, in Red Lake County. The tornado blew down numerous large trees in shelterbelts, rolled a horse trailer, blew apart a calf shed, and blew down a hay shed. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindOklee-Numerous large tree branches and limbs were broken down across portions of Roland Township, resulting in widespread power outages.

Mines and quarries

2 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 2 workings inside this county. All of them still produce. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity Workings
Sand and Gravel, Construction2

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bradshaw Gravel Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
County Hwy PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every populated place in the county

12

Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.

Provenance

  • Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
  • Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
  • Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
  • 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.