Cardwell, Montana
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Whitehall census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59721. It stands on Boulder River. The Survey maps it on the Jefferson Island quadrangle. 62 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,285 feet above sea level.
On record in Cardwell
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
- Jefferson Canyon Highway Historic Districtlisted 2018
Population over time
3 figuresCardwell grew from 40 to 62 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 40 | |
| 2010 | 50 | +10 (+25%) |
| 2020 | 62 | +12 (+24%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 21 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.
- 1888 USGS Three Forks quadrangle1:250000
- 1894 USGS Three Forks quadrangle1:250000
- 1895 USGS Three Forks quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS Jefferson Island quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1965 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:250000
- 1987 USGS Jefferson Island quadrangle1:24000
- 1992 USGS Bozeman quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Jefferson Island quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
8 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Cardwell between 1998 and 2020, burning about 566 acres in total. 2 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.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 August 1998 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest | LAHOOD |
| 28 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Jefferson County | NFIRS INCIDENT #612 |
| 22 August 1998 | Smoking | under an acre | Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest | CAVERNS |
| 17 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 acres | Jefferson County | 202067 |
| 6 July 2007 | Natural | 1.7 acres | Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest | GOLDEN SUNLIGHT |
| 25 June 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 32 acres | Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest | GOLDEN SUNLIGHT |
| 2 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Jefferson County | 6033 |
| 9 November 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 330 acres | Madison County | ANTELOPE FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 26 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Cardwell: 12 past producers, 6 occurrences, 3 prospects, 3 unknowns. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Gold, Copper, Uranium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardwell Clay Pit | Kaolin | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Gold Star | Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Jefferson Canyon Phosphoria | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Prospect | ||
| Leah Mine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Limespur Quarry | Limestone, High Calcium | Past Producer | 1875 | |
| Lucky Hit | Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| M & T Mine | Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Gold | Unknown | ||
| Prospector's Dream | Asbestos | Prospect | ||
| Burgoyne's Claim | Gold, Silver | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Calico Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cardwell in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 5 hail, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2023 | Flash Flood | Cardwell | $100,000 | Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reported Milligan Canyon Road was washed out in several locations due to heavy rainfall. |
| July 1998 | Flash Flood | Cardwell | $100,000 | MILLIGAN CANYON AREA |
| August 2019 | Hail | Cardwell | - | A trained spotter reports hail of 1.5 inches in diameter. |
| July 2019 | Hail | Cardwell | - | Trained spotter reports quarter sized hail falling and covering the ground near Cardwell. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Cardwell | - | Spotter reported quarter-size hail 2-miles ESE of Cardwell as a supercell moved overhead. |
| May 2018 | Hail | Cardwell | - | Spotter reported quarter-size hail 5-miles ESE of Cardwell as a second supercell moved overhead. |
| August 2009 | Hail | Cardwell | - | A severe thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at Cardwell 14N. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Hood Park | 1.7 miles | 21 | |
| Sunlight | 4.4 miles | 16 | |
| Whitehall | 7.7 miles | 15 | |
| Piedmont | 9.8 miles | 15 | |
| Renova | 9.8 miles | 15 | |
| Tippet Place | 13.0 miles | 15 | |
| Valley (historical) | 14.3 miles | 28 | |
| Pipestone Hot Springs | 14.9 miles | 15 |
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 Cardwell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q964080 | 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 780936. 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.











