Heron, Montana
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Thompson Falls-West End census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59844. It stands on Elk Creek. The Survey maps it on the Heron quadrangle. 173 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,251 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresHeron grew from 149 to 173 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 | 149 | |
| 2010 | 282 | +133 (+89%) |
| 2020 | 173 | -109 (-39%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 14 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.
- 1920 USGS Libby quadrangle1:125000
- 1930 USGS Libby quadrangle1:125000
- 1932 USGS Libby quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Kalispell quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Kalispell quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Kalispell quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Heron quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Libby quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Heron quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
55 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Heron between 1992 and 2020, burning about 658 acres in total. 28 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 28 |
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2014 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | MM7 |
| 4 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | FORKED DEER |
| 3 September 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | NAPOLEON GULCH |
| 3 September 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | NAPOLEON #2 |
| 3 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Coeur d'Alene Field Office | LONE CEDAR |
| 24 September 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | BIG EDDY |
| 17 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | 207 |
| 13 September 2017 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Kootenai National Forest | COAL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Heron: 5 past producers, 2 occurrences, 2 prospects, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Copper, Gold, Lead, Lead, Silver, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Property | Lead, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Blue Creek Mine | Lead, Zinc, Silver, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Frederick and Wind Group | Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Red Fir Claims | Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Ryan | Gold, Copper, Lead | Unknown | ||
| Broken | Lead, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Gopher Hole Mine | Gold, Lead, Silver, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Bee and Boo Claim Group | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Ulley | Copper | Prospect | ||
| Unnamed Location | Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
1 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Heron in 1 storm report in 2006: 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2006 | Flood | Heron | - | County roads and private drives were flooded just off Highway 56 near Bull River. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar (historical) | 3.2 miles | 14 | |
| Smead (historical) | 5.9 miles | 14 | |
| Noxon | 10.3 miles | 12 | |
| Tuscor | 17.7 miles | 12 | |
| Larchwood | 22.6 miles | 12 | |
| Trout Creek | 24.4 miles | 13 | |
| Childs | 31.5 miles | 9 | |
| White Pine | 33.3 miles | 13 |
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 Heron | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q966608 | 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 784801. 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.








