BlockBefore

Box Elder, Montana

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Rocky Boy's census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59521. The Survey maps it on the Box Elder quadrangle. 85 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,677 feet above sea level.

Box Elder within Hill County

Population over time

3 figures

Box Elder fell from 794 to 85 between 2000 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.

YearPeople Change
2000794
201087-707 (-89%)
202085-2 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 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

387 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 387 fires within 5 miles of Box Elder between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,343 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 109 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/incendiarism109
Debris and open burning77
Missing data/not specified/undetermined61
Misuse of fire by a minor49
Fireworks44
Equipment and vehicle use18
Natural15
Smoking7
Recreation and ceremony5
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.5 acresRocky Boy's AgencyCORP
9 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.4 acresRocky Boy's AgencyBROWNS
9 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresRocky Boy's AgencyNORTH FRESNO RD
5 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresRocky Boy's AgencyBLAME
4 September 1997Misuse of fire by a minor35 acresRocky Boy's AgencyWESTBENCH
30 September 2001Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresRocky Boy's AgencyDAM
27 September 2009Debris and open burningunder an acreRocky Boy's AgencyPONY
26 September 2009Debris and open burning12 acresRocky Boy's AgencyCONSTRUCTION

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hill 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 Box Elder: 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. 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
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Hill County

Storms near this place

13 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Box Elder in 13 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 6 hail, 3 funnel cloud, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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
August 1999Thunderstorm WindBox Elder$40,000OVERTURNED A TRAILER...DAMAGED FENCES AND ROOFS
June 2023Funnel CloudBox Elder-Public submitted photos of a funnel cloud near Rocky Boy, taken from Highway 87.
June 2023Tornado (EFU)Box Elder-Broadcast media submitted photos of tornado across rural Hill County. Two additional funnel clouds were filmed near the ongoing tornado. Due to limited access to the touchdown area, no storm survey was able to be conducted. Movement was to the west/northwest and was associated with a strengthening thunderstorm.
July 2022HailBox Elder-Reported mostly quarter-sized hail with some golf-ball sized. Also reported 0.80 inch precipitation over 30 minutes. Time estimated by radar.
June 2016HailBox Elder-A thunderstorm dropped 1.25 inch diameter hail at Box Elder. Also, 1 inch diameter hail was reported at Havre 8S.
July 2011HailBox Elder-A thunderstorm dropped 1.75 inch diameter hail at Box Elder 3N.
July 2011Flash FloodBox Elder-Public reported flash flooding south of the Bears Paw Mountains due to a slow-moving thunderstorm. Radar indicated that up to 4 inches of rainfall were possible with the storm.
July 2007HailBox Elder-A severe thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at Box Elder 12E.
August 2005HailBox Elder-no account filed
August 2000HailBox Elder-no account filed
June 1996Thunderstorm WindBox Elder-no account filed
June 1996Funnel CloudBox Elder-no account filed
August 1996Funnel CloudBox Elder-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hill 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
Sangrey10.5 miles9
Laredo10.5 miles10
Azure11.3 miles9
Saint Pierre11.7 miles10
Rocky Boy's Agency12.6 miles9
Fresno17.3 miles10
Kremlin17.9 miles10
Burnham18.1 miles10

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 Box ElderAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q955705The 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 802050. 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.