Chama, New Mexico
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Tierra Amarilla census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87520. It stands on Little Willow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Chama quadrangle. 917 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,871 feet above sea level.
On record in Chama
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
Foster Hotellisted 1986
Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records
- Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, San Juan Extension, Water Supply Systems, Chamafederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, San Juan Extension, Wolf Creek Trestle, Crossing Wolf Creek at Milepost 339.78, Chamafederal building survey, 14 photographs
Population over time
3 figuresChama fell from 1,199 to 917 between 2000 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,199 | |
| 2010 | 1,022 | -177 (-15%) |
| 2020 | 917 | -105 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 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.
- 1954 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1955 USGS Chama quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Aztec quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Chama quadrangle1:100000
- 1983 USGS Chama quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
86 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Chama between 1993 and 2020, burning about 55 acres in total. 46 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 46 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | DAIRY |
| 25 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | WESTERN |
| 2 September 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | CEMETARY |
| 18 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | TUCK RIDGE |
| 8 August 2000 | Natural | 5.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | KENTUCKY |
| 4 August 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Jicarilla Agency | OSO |
| 31 August 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | DEBBIE |
| 3 August 2000 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | SKYVIEW |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Chama: 2 unknowns, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Geothermal, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials Pit No 66-48-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Prospect | ||
| Pit No. 66 - 48 - S | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone | Unknown | ||
| San Antonio Springs | Geothermal | Unknown |
Storms near this place
7 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chama in 7 storm reports between 1995 and 2019: 4 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2009 | Lightning | Chama | $10,000 | Thunderstorms over northwest New Mexico during the early morning hours produced a cloud to ground lightning strike that hit the 96.1 FM KZRM Radio transmitter on Rabbit Peak, just west northwest of Chama. The station was off the air for at least three weeks. |
| April 2010 | Flood | Chama | $5,000 | Rising water from the Rio Chamita resulted in flooding of yards, storage sheds and possibly a barn on the west side of Chama. No homes were flooded. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Chama | - | Hail up to the size of quarters reported in Chama. |
| July 2014 | Hail | Chama | - | Leaves shredded off Aspen trees around Chama. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chama | - | Storm chasers overnighting at the Y-Motel reported a dry microburst estimated at 80 MPH which downed several trees and caused damage to porch coverings. |
| June 1995 | Hail | Chama | - | Dime-size hail was reported by the Chama observer. |
| August 2006 | Hail | Chama | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Creek | 3.9 miles | 14 | |
| Lobato | 4.1 miles | 14 | |
| Brazos | 10.5 miles | 14 | |
| Biggs (historical) | 11.3 miles | 13 | |
| Los Ojos | 12.0 miles | 12 | |
| Ensenada | 12.4 miles | 12 | |
| Diamante (historical) | 12.8 miles | 13 | |
| Rutheron | 12.8 miles | 12 |
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 Chama | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1060410 | 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 902207. 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.






