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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

Thompson Falls within Sanders County

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

Every listing in Sanders County

Population over time

2 figures

Thompson 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,313
20201,336+23 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

141 since 1992

Regional 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
Natural33
Debris and open burning23
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Recreation and ceremony17
Arson/incendiarism14
Railroad operations and maintenance12
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Equipment and vehicle use5
Smoking3
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2005Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreLolo National ForestPROSPECT CREEK
5 September 1998Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresLolo National ForestBACK TO SCHOOL
26 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLolo National Forestnot named
25 September 1999Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreLolo National ForestMOUTH OF PROSPECT
24 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLolo National ForestTIMBER TIGER
21 September 1999Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreLolo National ForestFLAT IRON LANDING
2 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresLolo National ForestBLUE SLIDE
2 September 1995Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreLolo National ForestAIRPORT ROAD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sanders County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Deacon PlacerGoldOccurrencePlacer
Larch-Recco GroupsCopperOccurrence
Sullivan Hill TuffStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
UnknownKaolinProducer
Unnamed BentoniteClayUnknown
Clark Fork ConcreteSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Tindall Construction Co.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Sanders County

Storms near this place

13 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2025FloodThompson Falls$100,000At 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 1994Thunderstorm WindThompson Falls$50,000no account filed
May 1993HailThompson Falls$5,000no account filed
May 1993HailThompson Falls$5,000no account filed
August 2013Thunderstorm WindThompson Falls$500A 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 2013Thunderstorm WindThompson Falls$500A trained spotter reported that the power was out from 0230 to 0645 hrs MDT on August 26th.
September 2024Thunderstorm WindThompson 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 2018FloodThompson Falls-Low lying areas were flooded by the Clark Fork River between Thompson Falls and Plains.
May 2018FloodThompson Falls-The Clark Fork River again reached flood stage and caused flooding of the access road to the sewage lagoons outside of Plains.
August 2003WildfireThompson Falls-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindThompson Falls-no account filed
August 1999Thunderstorm WindThompson Falls-no account filed
August 1999HailThompson Falls-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sanders County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Shannonville (historical)4.1 miles13
Ashleys Settlement (historical)5.4 miles10
Belknap5.6 miles13
Snider6.7 miles10
Talc9.8 miles13
Eddy11.5 miles10
White Pine12.5 miles13
Childs14.6 miles9

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 FallsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q282540The 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.