French, Minnesota

Matched 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.

• 1913 USGS Fergus Falls quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
• 1953 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000
• 1966 USGS Carlisle quadrangle1:24000
• 1985 USGS Wahpeton quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
• 1989 USGS Fargo quadrangle1:250000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of French between 1992 and 2016, burning about 323 acres in total. None 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Fergus Falls
• River Bluff Estates
• Roberts (historical)
• Carlisle
• Elizabeth
• Lakeview Estates

Every fire recorded in Otter Tail County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of French: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Otter Tail County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names French in 3 storm reports between 2020 and 2025: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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.

Every storm recorded in Otter Tail County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 654714. 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.