Polson, Montana
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Flathead Reservation census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59860. The Survey maps it on the Polson quadrangle. 5,148 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,927 feet above sea level.
On record in Polson
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
Polson Feed Milllisted 1980
Population over time
2 figuresPolson grew from 4,488 to 5,148 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 | 4,488 | |
| 2020 | 5,148 | +660 (+15%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 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 Flathead Lake quadrangle1:125000
- 1956 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Polson quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS Polson quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
65 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 65 fires within 5 miles of Polson between 1994 and 2020, burning about 264 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Natural | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Fireworks | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 2001 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Flathead Agency | KERR |
| 7 September 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Flathead Agency | LOG HOUSE |
| 6 September 2015 | Natural | under an acre | Flathead Agency | SILVER FOX |
| 26 September 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Flathead Agency | HACK |
| 11 September 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Flathead Agency | WOLF POINT |
| 1 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | SNIDER |
| 9 August 2014 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Flathead Agency | HAACK |
| 9 August 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Flathead Agency | HAACK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 17 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Polson: 15 unknowns, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Polson in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 5 hail, 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Polson | $8,300 | A 72 foot, 26 inch diameter Douglas Fir fell down from very strong thunderstorm winds and crashed onto owners' house. Soil moisture was relatively dry, but as seen in photo much of the branches on the trunk except at the top had already been cut off before this event. A forester examined the tree and found that its roots had been cut on the west side of the tree before the event. |
| September 2019 | Heavy Rain | Polson | - | General rainfall of 1 to 2 inches fell across parts of the Flathead and Mission valleys eastward to the Continental Divide. Heavier amounts of 3 to 4 inches fell locally on the east side of Flathead Lake and in the Mission Mountains, which were near record 2-day totals for the month of September. Also, minor debris flows were noted on Hwy 35 between Bigfork and Polson with some water into the Bigfork after-school building. |
| May 2009 | Hail | Polson | - | Public reported nickel size hail and heavy rain from thunderstorm over the Irvine Flats area. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Polson | - | The lodge owner in Wood's Bay reported an estimated wind gust to 60 mph about 1 mile east of town. |
| June 2006 | Hail | Polson | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Polson | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Polson | - | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Polson | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Polson | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Polson | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belle-Vue Court | 1.2 miles | 7 | |
| Kerr | 1.8 miles | 7 | |
| Jette | 2.2 miles | 7 | |
| Rocky Point | 3.0 miles | 7 | |
| Turtle Lake | 5.0 miles | 9 | |
| Kings Point | 5.2 miles | 7 | |
| Mountain View (historical) | 5.7 miles | 9 | |
| Dunham | 6.1 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 Polson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q963395 | 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 775341. 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.




