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Motley, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Motley City. It lies in ZIP code area 56466. It stands on Mosquito Creek. The Survey maps it on the Motley quadrangle. 680 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,230 feet above sea level.

Motley within Morrison County

On record in Motley

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

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.

Fires near this place

115 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 115 fires within 5 miles of Motley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 476 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 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 burning49
Missing data/not specified/undetermined20
Equipment and vehicle use15
Arson/incendiarism13
Railroad operations and maintenance6
Recreation and ceremony6
Smoking3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Natural1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 September 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
16 September 2003Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 August 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 August 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 August 1998Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Morrison County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Motley: 2 producers. 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Cary PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
East Zetah PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Morrison County

Storms near this place

20 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Motley in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 12 hail, 8 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1994Thunderstorm WindMotley$5,000A garage was destroyed causing 3,000 dollars damage.
July 2020HailMotley-There were several reports of quarter size hail just north of the Morrison/Cass County border and also southeast into northwest Morrison County.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindMotley-A large tree blew down on a power line south of Motley.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindMotley-Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the far northwest portion of Morrison County.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindMotley-Numerous trees and power lines down.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindMotley-Tree felled over road.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindMotley-Tree toppled over road.
August 2005Thunderstorm WindMotley-A total of 272 trees were downed at a golf course at the intersection of Hillcrest Road and Highway 10 about 5 miles south of Motley. The corner of a maintenance building was damaged by a felled tree. In addition, scattered trees were downed onto roads in the Scandia Valley Area. Power outages were also reported in Scandia Valley township.
August 2024HailMotley-no account filed
July 2023HailMotley-no account filed
July 2023HailMotley-no account filed
May 2022HailMotley-no account filed
June 2022HailMotley-no account filed
July 2010HailMotley-no account filed
July 2003HailMotley-no account filed
June 2001HailMotley-no account filed
July 2001HailMotley-no account filed
June 1997HailMotley-no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindMotley-no account filed
July 1996HailMotley-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Morrison County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Lincoln8.7 miles12
Cushing14.1 miles12
Randall18.6 miles12
Camp Ripley Junction24.9 miles13
Belle Prairie26.5 miles13
Flensburg27.0 miles12
Maple Leaf Court28.3 miles12
Little Falls29.1 miles12

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 MotleyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q662446The 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 648137. 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.