Backus, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1976. It stands in Backus City. It lies in ZIP code area 56435. The Survey maps it on the Backus quadrangle. 263 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,345 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBackus grew from 250 to 263 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 250 | |
| 2020 | 263 | +13 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 9 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.
- 1953 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Backus quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Pine River quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
133 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 133 fires within 5 miles of Backus between 1992 and 2020, burning about 190 acres in total. None started naturally. 30 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 | 54 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 30 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 27 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1.5 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 August 2008 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 August 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 August 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 21 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 July 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
32 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Backus in 32 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 23 hail, 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | $50,000 | Extensive damage was reported to several farms and homes in the area. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | The hail for upwards of 10 to 15 minutes. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | Multiple trees were downed by the winds. One of the trees was 12 inches in diameter was was laying over State Highway 87. |
| August 2016 | Hail | Backus | - | Quarter to ping pong size hail fell for 10 minutes in the Backus area. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | There were numerous trees blown down in Backus. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | A 10 to 12 diameter pine tree was blown down. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | There were several 3 diameter trees down. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | Five-inch diameter trees were blown down. |
| August 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | Trees were blown down. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| September 2021 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| July 2020 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| July 2018 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Backus | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mildred | 5.3 miles | 9 | |
| Oshawa | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Hackensack | 7.6 miles | 10 | |
| Chickamaw Beach | 8.7 miles | 10 | |
| Pine River | 9.2 miles | 10 | |
| Pontoria | 10.0 miles | 9 | |
| Graff | 17.2 miles | 9 | |
| Ah-gwah-ching | 17.7 miles | 10 |
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 Backus | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2153126 | 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 655183. 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.
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.





