Sun River, Montana
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Sun River Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59483. The Survey maps it on the Sun River quadrangle. 95 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,412 feet above sea level.
On record in Sun River
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
J. C. Adam's Stone Barnlisted 1979
Population over time
2 figuresSun River fell from 124 to 95 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 | 124 | |
| 2020 | 95 | -29 (-23%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1886 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1949 USGS Vaughn quadrangle1:62500
- 1952 USGS Vaughn quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Great Falls quadrangle1:250000
- 1976 USGS Great Falls North quadrangle1:100000
- 1983 USGS Sun River quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
2 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Sun River in 2017, burning about 1 acre in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central Land Office | SUN RIVER |
| 20 July 2017 | Other causes | under an acre | Central Land Office | SUN RIVER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Sun River: 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Bentonite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richem Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Bentonite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
12 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sun River in 12 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sun River | $60,000 | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sun River | - | Ambient weather sensor measured a severe gust. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sun River | - | Public weather station reported a severe caliber gust. Location was estimated. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sun River | - | Social media report (image) received showing a 6 to 8 inch limb that was knocked down west of Vaughn. Size of limb is estimated. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Sun River | - | Video showing hail was taken in Sun River. Person who took the video reported up to quarter sized hail. Time estimated from radar. |
| July 2022 | Hail | Sun River | - | Trained spotter reported 3.25 inch hail near Sun River. Photos from the area submitted by general public appear to verify this report. |
| May 2019 | Flood | Sun River | - | MT DOT reported floodwater across MT-200 just east of the town of Sun River. In addition, NWS employees documented additional flooding along the Sun River, in and near the town of Sun River, on May 28th. Exact duration of flooding unknown. |
| June 2018 | Flood | Sun River | - | NWS Great Falls hydrologist reported and photographed flooding in the town of Sun River due to the Sun River flowing out of its banks. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Sun River | - | Hail measuring 0.75 inches was reported. |
| June 2011 | Flood | Sun River | - | U.S. Highway 89 closed northwest of Sun River due to flooding from rising waters along the Sun River on 6/6/11. Significant and devastating flooding in Sun River. Numerous roads and homes were flooded in the town of Sun River by 6/8/11. Highway 200 from Sun River to Bowmans Corner also closed. North Fort Shaw Road and Simms-Fairfield Road were also closed. In Great Falls, a portion of River Road and McIver Road was closed due to water over the roadway. Woodland Estates Road closed due to flooding on 6/11/11. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Sun River | - | A severe thunderstorm produced 1.75 inch hail at Sun River 2S. |
| June 1996 | Hail | Sun River | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashuelot | 5.0 miles | 15 | |
| Fort Shaw | 5.1 miles | 15 | |
| Gordon | 7.7 miles | 13 | |
| Cascade Colony | 8.3 miles | 13 | |
| Vaughn | 9.5 miles | 14 | |
| Fair Haven Colony | 10.2 miles | 16 | |
| Simms | 11.3 miles | 13 | |
| Sun Prairie | 12.7 miles | 15 |
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 Sun River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q955787 | 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 777313. 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.






