Silica, Minnesota
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Janette Lake unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 55746. It stands on Coons Creek. The Survey maps it on the Silica quadrangle. It stands 1,335 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 11 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.
- 1952 USGS Silica quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1954 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1992 USGS Pokegama Lake quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
45 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Silica between 1993 and 2020, burning about 599 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 14 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 | 14 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 September 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 August 2005 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 August 2003 | Natural | 1.2 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 26 July 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 July 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 June 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 May 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1.4 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
6 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Silica in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2024: 4 hail, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Silica | - | A tree was down on a power line. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Silica | - | The hail fell along Highway 20 just inside of the St. Louis County line. |
| September 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Silica | - | Several dead tree limbs were blown down over the roadway. |
| July 2021 | Hail | Silica | - | no account filed |
| September 2018 | Hail | Silica | - | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Silica | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 6.9 miles | 8 | |
| Riley | 8.3 miles | 10 | |
| Little Swan | 10.3 miles | 10 | |
| Kelly Lake | 10.6 miles | 11 | |
| Onega | 10.9 miles | 10 | |
| Kerr | 11.2 miles | 14 | |
| Leetonia | 11.5 miles | 14 | |
| Scranton | 11.7 miles | 14 |
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 Silica | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q12834399 | 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 662447. 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.





