Federal Dam, Minnesota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1996. It stands in Federal Dam City. It lies in ZIP code area 56641. The Survey maps it on the Federal Dam quadrangle. 123 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,309 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresFederal Dam grew from 110 to 123 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 | 110 | |
| 2020 | 123 | +13 (+12%) |
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.
- 1954 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Bemidji quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Federal Dam quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Cass Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Federal Dam quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
44 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 44 fires within 5 miles of Federal Dam between 1993 and 2020, burning about 1,901 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 23 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 23 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | SOO BRIDGE |
| 18 August 2003 | Natural | 2.5 acres | Chippewa National Forest | ZION |
| 11 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | NATURE TRAIL |
| 27 June 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | LEECH FIRE |
| 25 June 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Chippewa National Forest | SUGAR POINT |
| 13 June 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | DRUMBEATER CREEK |
| 8 May 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Chippewa National Forest | LOG |
| 8 May 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.2 acres | Chippewa National Forest | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
12 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Federal Dam in 12 storm reports between 2005 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail. 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 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | Multiple trees were down along a road ranging from twelve to eighteen inches in diameter. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | A tree roughly 4 inches in diameter was snapped by the winds and fell onto a trailer. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | Several trees were blown down in Gould Township. |
| July 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | Numerous trees were uprooted with some sheared off above the ground. The power was out through at least the following afternoon. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | Trees were blown down. |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Federal Dam | - | Trees were blown down, including a 50 foot pine. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Hail | Federal Dam | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bena | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Boy River | 7.1 miles | 9 | |
| Ryan Village | 8.9 miles | 9 | |
| Brevik | 11.9 miles | 9 | |
| Tobique | 12.8 miles | 11 | |
| Schley | 13.8 miles | 9 | |
| Elevenmile Corner | 13.9 miles | 10 | |
| Bald Eagle Center | 15.4 miles | 9 |
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 Federal Dam | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2231572 | 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 656214. 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.





