Thompson Falls, Montana
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1937 and the latest in 1999. It stands in the Thompson Falls-West End census division. It lies in ZIP code area 59873. It stands on Prospect Creek. The Survey maps it on the Thompson Falls quadrangle. 1,336 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,556 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Thompson Falls
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 12 of 20 shown
Ainsworth Houselisted 1986
Bedard Houselisted 1986
Gem Saloonlisted 1986
Grandchamp Houselisted 1986
Griffen Houselisted 1986
House at 112 Park Streetlisted 1986
Hoyt Houselisted 1986
IOOF Lodgelisted 1986
Northern Pacific Warehouselisted 1986
Preston Houselisted 1986
Rinard Houselisted 1986
Sanders County Jaillisted 1986
Population over time
2 figuresThompson Falls grew from 1,313 to 1,336 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 | 1,313 | |
| 2020 | 1,336 | +23 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 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.
- 1937 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:62500
- 1937 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Wallace quadrangle1:250000
- 1988 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:24000
- 1992 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:100000
- 1999 USGS Thompson Falls quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
141 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 141 fires within 5 miles of Thompson Falls between 1992 and 2020, burning about 321 acres in total. 33 started naturally. 14 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 | 33 |
| Debris and open burning | 23 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 17 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| 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 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | PROSPECT CREEK |
| 5 September 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Lolo National Forest | BACK TO SCHOOL |
| 26 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | not named |
| 25 September 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | MOUTH OF PROSPECT |
| 24 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | TIMBER TIGER |
| 21 September 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | FLAT IRON LANDING |
| 2 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Lolo National Forest | BLUE SLIDE |
| 2 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Lolo National Forest | AIRPORT ROAD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Thompson Falls: 3 occurrences, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Gold, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deacon Placer | Gold | Occurrence | Placer | |
| Larch-Recco Groups | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Sullivan Hill Tuff | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Unknown | Kaolin | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Bentonite | Clay | Unknown | ||
| Clark Fork Concrete | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tindall Construction Co. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
13 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thompson Falls in 13 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 flood, 1 wildfire. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | Flood | Thompson Falls | $100,000 | At approximately 0400MST on December 11, a massive landslide occurred near Eagle View Lane, roughly 2 miles south-southwest of Bull Lake. The debris flow significantly damaged a residential garage, and the residents were unharmed. An Emergency Declaration was issued to address the lowland flooding and debris removal. Highway 56 near Bull Lake was forced to close between mileposts 16.7 and 17.2 after overwhelmed culverts allowed stream overflow to inundate the roadway. The emergency manager reported that over a dozen properties were isolated from Highway 56, either by a foot of water over access bridges or by an approximate 50-yard-wide flow of sediment-laden water separating residences from the main road. |A bridge on Montana Highway 471/Thompson Pass Road, near milepost 15, was washed out by Prospect Creek, resulting in a road closure. Prospect Creek also flooded the Prospect Creek campground at the Wild Coyote, located 7 miles up Prospect from Highway 200. |
| May 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Thompson Falls | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 1993 | Hail | Thompson Falls | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | $500 | A member of the public reported a strong thunderstorm with heavy rain, lightning gusty winds that moved through between 2 and 3 am MDT. They received 0.75 total rainfall measured. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | $500 | A trained spotter reported that the power was out from 0230 to 0645 hrs MDT on August 26th. |
| September 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | - | Widespread power outage in Thompson Falls with up to 4000 thousand customers without power. There was also a downed tree at the bottom of Cherry Creek Road around 7:20pm. |
| May 2018 | Flood | Thompson Falls | - | Low lying areas were flooded by the Clark Fork River between Thompson Falls and Plains. |
| May 2018 | Flood | Thompson Falls | - | The Clark Fork River again reached flood stage and caused flooding of the access road to the sewage lagoons outside of Plains. |
| August 2003 | Wildfire | Thompson Falls | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thompson Falls | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Hail | Thompson Falls | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shannonville (historical) | 4.1 miles | 13 | |
| Ashleys Settlement (historical) | 5.4 miles | 10 | |
| Belknap | 5.6 miles | 13 | |
| Snider | 6.7 miles | 10 | |
| Talc | 9.8 miles | 13 | |
| Eddy | 11.5 miles | 10 | |
| White Pine | 12.5 miles | 13 | |
| Childs | 14.6 miles | 9 |
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 Thompson Falls | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q282540 | 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 792090. 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.







