East Helena, Montana
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Helena census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59635. The Survey maps it on the East Helena quadrangle. 1,944 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,888 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresEast Helena fell from 1,984 to 1,944 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,984 | |
| 2020 | 1,944 | -40 (-2%) |
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.
- 1886 USGS Fort Logan quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1899 USGS Helena quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Helena Special quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS Helena and Vicinity quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS White Sulphur Springs quadrangle1:250000
- 1950 USGS East Helena quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS White Sulphur Springs quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS White Sulphur Springs quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS White Sulphur Springs quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Canyon Ferry Dam quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS East Helena quadrangle1:24000
- 2001 USGS East Helena quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
125 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 125 fires within 5 miles of East Helena between 1992 and 2020, burning about 802 acres in total. 21 started naturally. 1 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 | 40 |
| Natural | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Fireworks | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | EAST VALLEY |
| 6 September 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Central Land Office | EAST VALLEY |
| 19 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | CLAYSOIL |
| 17 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.9 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 17 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Central Land Office | not named |
| 14 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | HWY 282 MA |
| 14 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | DAHL DR MA |
| 11 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | I-15 MM186 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 32 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of East Helena: 11 occurrences, 9 past producers, 5 producers, 4 unknowns. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Limestone, General, Limestone, Dimension, Pumice. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Facility) East Helena Lead Smelter | Lead, Smelter, Sulfur, Sulfuric Acid | Plant | ||
| Asarco Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Aurora Mine | Gold, Copper, Silver, Zinc | Occurrence | ||
| Bompart Homestead | Mica | Occurrence | ||
| C. E. S. Ballard, Etal | Uranium, Thorium | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Clark Lead | Lead | Prospect | ||
| East Helena Plant Asarco | Silver, Lead, Gold, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Easy Money Group | Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Helena Slag Dump | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Maybesto & Try Claims | Gold, Lead, Mercury, Silver | Unknown |
Storms near this place
8 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names East Helena in 8 storm reports between 2000 and 2022: 4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2022 | Heavy Rain | East Helena | - | Trained spotter reported 1.98 inches of rainfall per hour. Winds gusting 32 mph. |
| August 2019 | Hail | East Helena | - | A trained spotter reported mixed nickle and quarter sized hail (.88 to 1 inch in diameter). |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Helena | - | A thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 58 mph at East Helena 4NNW. |
| June 2010 | Hail | East Helena | - | A thunderstorm dropped 1 inch diameter hail at East Helena 5E. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Helena | - | A severe thunderstorm produced a wind gust to 65 mph at East Helena. The wind damaged numreous trees. A possible funnel cloud was also reported by the public. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Helena | - | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Hail | East Helena | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Hail | East Helena | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Range | 0.8 miles | 21 | |
| Helena | 6.4 miles | 30 | |
| Evergreen Court | 6.7 miles | 28 | |
| Lakeside | 7.5 miles | 19 | |
| Kenwood (historical) | 8.3 miles | 30 | |
| Broadwater | 9.1 miles | 30 | |
| Seven Mile (historical) | 9.4 miles | 28 | |
| Dotsonville (historical) | 9.6 miles | 30 |
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 East Helena | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q967025 | 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 800739. 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.











