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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.

Chama within Rio Arriba County

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

Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records

Population over time

3 figures

Chama 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.

YearPeople Change
20001,199
20101,022-177 (-15%)
2020917-105 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 14 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

86 since 1993

Regional 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
Natural46
Missing data/not specified/undetermined19
Railroad operations and maintenance13
Debris and open burning7
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
3 September 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDAIRY
25 September 2001Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionWESTERN
2 September 2004Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCEMETARY
18 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionTUCK RIDGE
8 August 2000Natural5.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionKENTUCKY
4 August 2019Naturalunder an acreJicarilla AgencyOSO
31 August 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDEBBIE
3 August 2000Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSKYVIEW

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Rio Arriba County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Materials Pit No 66-48-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionProspect
Pit No. 66 - 48 - SSand and Gravel, Construction, StoneUnknown
San Antonio SpringsGeothermalUnknown

Every working recorded in Rio Arriba County

Storms near this place

7 since 1995

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2009LightningChama$10,000Thunderstorms 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 2010FloodChama$5,000Rising 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 2019HailChama-Hail up to the size of quarters reported in Chama.
July 2014HailChama-Leaves shredded off Aspen trees around Chama.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindChama-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 1995HailChama-Dime-size hail was reported by the Chama observer.
August 2006HailChama-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Rio Arriba 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
Willow Creek3.9 miles14
Lobato4.1 miles14
Brazos10.5 miles14
Biggs (historical)11.3 miles13
Los Ojos12.0 miles12
Ensenada12.4 miles12
Diamante (historical)12.8 miles13
Rutheron12.8 miles12

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 ChamaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1060410The 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.