BlockBefore

Piper, Montana

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Grass Range census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59457. The Survey maps it on the Loco Ridge quadrangle.

Piper within Fergus County

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 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

8 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Piper between 1992 and 2018, burning about 510 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
Equipment and vehicle use3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Natural2

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
28 August 2017Equipment and vehicle use300 acresNortheastern Land Officenot named
19 August 1992Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresNortheastern Land OfficeREDDING RANCH
17 August 1996Natural200 acresNorth Central Montana DistrictFA 7
26 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNortheastern Land Officenot named
21 July 2017Natural2.0 acresFergus CountyTUSS
19 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.1 acresFergus CountyHORSETHIEF
12 July 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNortheastern Land Officenot named
5 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresNortheastern Land Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fergus County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Piper: 3 occurrences, 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gypsum-Anhydrite, Clay. 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
Kootenai Formation ClaysClayOccurrence
Piper DepositGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrence
Shoemaker MineGypsum-AnhydriteProducer1905, 1916
U.S. Gypsum Co. MineGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
United States Gypsum's PropertyGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Fergus County

Storms near this place

6 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Piper in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 3 heavy rain, 2 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2025HailPiper$1,000Spotter reported hail between 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter. The spotter also noted the hail punched a hole into their deck.
June 2022Heavy RainPiper-Twentyfour hour rainfall total.
June 2022Heavy RainPiper-Twenty-four hour rainfall total.
June 2014HailPiper-Hail measuring 1.25 inches (half dollar sized) was reported.
May 2008FloodPiper-Reports of 6 to 8 inches of water over Red Hill Road near Half Moon Canyon in Big Snowy Mountains.
May 2008Heavy RainPiper-Storm total of 6.95 inches of rain led to flooding in and around Half Moon Pass area of eastern Fergus County.

Every storm recorded in Fergus 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
Heath3.6 miles12
Skaggs (historical)4.7 miles13
Cheadle (historical)5.5 miles13
Forestgrove6.4 miles12
Box Springs (historical)7.8 miles13
Nelson (historical)8.2 miles13
Giltedge9.4 miles13
Ruby Gulch (historical)9.9 miles13

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 775269. 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.