Seeley Lake, Montana
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1999. It stands in the Seeley Lake-Blackfoot Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59868. It stands on Seeley Creek. The Survey maps it on the Seeley Lake East quadrangle. 1,682 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,019 feet above sea level.
On record in Seeley Lake
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 3 records
Double Arrow Lodgelisted 2014- Double Arrow Lookoutlisted 2018
- Laird's Lodge Historic Districtlisted 1990
Population over time
2 figuresSeeley Lake grew from 1,659 to 1,682 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 | 1,659 | |
| 2020 | 1,682 | +23 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1902 USGS Ovando quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1905 USGS Ovando quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Choteau quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Choteau quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Choteau quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Choteau quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Seeley Lake East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Choteau quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Seeley Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1999 USGS Seeley Lake East quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
476 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 476 fires within 5 miles of Seeley Lake between 1992 and 2020, burning about 106 acres in total. 136 started naturally. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 136 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 103 |
| Debris and open burning | 92 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 76 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 28 |
| Fireworks | 19 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 9 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Southwestern Land Office | SOUTH HIGHLAND |
| 7 September 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Southwestern Land Office | not named |
| 7 September 1999 | Smoking | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | BRUCE IN THE DUFF |
| 7 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | PLACID LAKE ROAD |
| 6 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Southwestern Land Office | LOOPING DREW CREEK |
| 6 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Southwestern Land Office | HORSETRAIL |
| 6 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | BIG RICE |
| 5 September 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Southwestern Land Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
21 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Seeley Lake in 21 storm reports between 1995 and 2018: 12 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | $60,000 | Multiple trees of varying thicknesses were either blown over or snapped in the Lake Alva campground. One spruce tree larger than 20 inches in diameter fell lengthwise onto a camper, totaling the trailer but sparing an infant in a bassinet. Another camper was also damaged as a tree fell lengthwise onto it but no one was injured. Property damage of both campers was estimated to be sixty thousand dollars. |
| April 2018 | Flood | Seeley Lake | $15,000 | Increasing water levels in Seeley Lake, as well as a rising water table lead to flooding of 15 to 20 homes. Most of the flooding occurred on the southwest side of Seeley Lake near C Street where water had surrounded 10 to 15 homes. Several homes in the town of Seeley Lake also had groundwater-filled basements. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | $5,000 | The Missoula 911 dispatch reported multiple trees and power lines down on Whitetail Dr and Dolly Varden Dr. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | Several lodgepole pine trees were blown over and hail up to one inch were reported with this storm. |
| May 2018 | Flood | Seeley Lake | - | Homes and buildings adjacent to Seeley Lake and the Clearwater River were impacted by flooding. Thirteen homes in the Seeley Lake region were under evacuation orders. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | Over 100 trees were blown down between 7 and 14 miles north of Seeley lake. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | Hail was reported at Big Sky Lake. |
| June 2011 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | The public measured 1.00 inch hail near Salmon Lake. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | Public reported an estimated wind gust to 60 mph. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | Estimated wind gusts to 60 mph blew down a large tree down onto the deck of the house and also knocked down powerlines. |
| August 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | Many trees were blown down, some falling onto a cars and homes. A 100-year-old windmill was blown over. Winds were estimated at 60 mph. |
| August 1995 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | Many trees were blown down, some falling onto a cars and homes. A 100-year-old windmill was blown over. Winds were estimated at 60 mph. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| September 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Seeley Lake | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Seeley Lake | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | 13.6 miles | 14 | |
| Barite | 16.3 miles | 19 | |
| Sunset | 16.7 miles | 19 | |
| Greenough | 18.3 miles | 19 | |
| McNamara | 21.1 miles | 16 | |
| Potomac | 21.2 miles | 17 | |
| Twin Creeks | 22.1 miles | 16 | |
| Yreka | 23.4 miles | 19 |
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 Seeley Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q955887 | 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 799011. 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.
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.









