Plains, Montana
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1999. It stands in the Plains census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59859. It stands on Boyer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Plains quadrangle. 1,106 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,477 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPlains grew from 1,048 to 1,106 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 | 1,048 | |
| 2020 | 1,106 | +58 (+6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1956 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Plains quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Plains quadrangle1:24000
- 1999 USGS Plains quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
246 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 246 fires within 5 miles of Plains between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,309 acres in total. 58 started naturally. 8 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 |
| Natural | 58 |
| Debris and open burning | 38 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 29 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | FOX FARMS 3 |
| 8 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | PARADISE GULCH # 2 |
| 7 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | not named |
| 5 September 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | R.R. MM-11 |
| 5 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | ROGERS PASS |
| 3 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | FOX FARMS 2 |
| 3 September 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | HWY 22 MM 74 |
| 3 September 2013 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Northwestern Land Office | WEST FORK COMBEST |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Plains: 4 prospects, 4 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letterman | Silver, Gold, Lead | Prospect | ||
| Montro Gold Mines | Lead, Silver, Copper, Gold | Prospect | Vein | |
| Montro Gold Mines | Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper | Producer | ||
| Montro Gold Mines | Lead, Copper, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Flagstone Quarry | Flagstone | Past Producer | ||
| Clark Bros. Universal #1. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Letterman Mine | Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper | Past Producer | 1911, 1940 | |
| Montana Premier | Gold, Lead, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Scotts Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Silver and Copper Prospect | Silver, Copper | Prospect |
Storms near this place
6 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Plains in 6 storm reports between 2002 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Plains | - | Strong winds snapped large limbs, estimated near 4 inches in diameter, off trees. |
| May 2023 | Hail | Plains | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Plains | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Plains | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Plains | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Plains | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise | 6.5 miles | 9 | |
| Blanchards Corner | 6.7 miles | 7 | |
| Weeksville | 7.3 miles | 7 | |
| Island City (historical) | 8.4 miles | 8 | |
| Donlan | 9.4 miles | 8 | |
| Quinns | 10.3 miles | 8 | |
| Knowles | 11.9 miles | 9 | |
| Camas Prairie | 14.6 miles | 8 |
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 Plains | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q962882 | 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 788983. 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.




