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Cimarron, New Mexico

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Cimarron census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87714. It lies near Nash Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Cimarron quadrangle. 792 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,430 feet above sea level.

Cimarron within Colfax County

On record in Cimarron

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 4 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 7 records

Population over time

2 figures

Cimarron fell from 1,021 to 792 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
20101,021
2020792-229 (-22%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Cimarron Church, Cimarron, Colfax County, NM
Cimarron Church, Cimarron, Colfax County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Cimarron between 1995 and 2020, burning about 2,115 acres in total. 9 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
Natural9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Equipment and vehicle use3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
15 September 2009Natural1.2 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMILL
6 August 2000Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDEAN
8 July 2005Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionTOOTH
6 July 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionWAVE
6 July 2000Natural40 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionANTELOPE
8 June 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined750 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionENCINOSA
26 June 2010Naturalunder an acreCimarron DistrictCHASE FIRE
23 June 2000Natural3.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionTURKEY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Colfax County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Cimarron: 1 producer, 1 unknown. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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
C003-002Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Colfax County

Storms near this place

52 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cimarron in 52 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 40 hail, 6 flash flood, 3 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. The reports record 1 death and 6 injuries. 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
May 2014LightningCimarron1 killed, 1 hurtState police reported that a man was struck by lightning and killed while riding his motorcycle along U.S. Highway 84 just west of Cimarron at mile post 308 Friday afternoon.
July 1996Tornado (F2)Cimarron5 hurt, $1,680,000no account filed
August 2025HailCimarron$250,000A trained spotter with the Philmont Scout Ranch shared reports and video of quarter to hen egg size hail pelting the grounds. Hail damaged trees, 60 vehicles, and tore through camping equipment such as unoccupied tents. Thankfully there were no reports of fatalities or injuries. Damage is an estimate.
August 2008Flash FloodCimarron$75,000Heavy rain of 4 to 6 inches fell in and near the town of Cimarron. Flash flooding occurred with several houses along U.S. Highway 64 flooded. Water flowed one to two feet deep through town. Two vehicles were washed off State Road 21. One person was injured attempting to rescue one of the motorists who was trapped in their vehicle.
June 1995HailCimarron$5,000Hail to golf ball-size damaged several cars in Cimarron.
May 2025HailCimarron-Penny size diameter hail was observed along State Highway 58 just east of Cimarron.
June 2025HailCimarron-A trained spotter at the St. James Hotel in Cimarron observed nickel size hail from a severe thunderstorm tracking just south of the town.
June 2025HailCimarron-Golf ball size hail was observed at Philmont Scout Ranch from a severe thunderstorm.
May 2021HailCimarron-Half dollar size hail was reported from a severe thunderstorm near Cimarron.
July 2021HailCimarron-One inch hail was reported from a severe thunderstorm near Philmont Scout Ranch. The observer reported that the hail lasted about ten minutes.
July 2021HailCimarron-A trained spotter measured 1.7 inch hail from a severe thunderstorm near Philmont Scout Ranch.
June 2019HailCimarron-Hail up to the size of quarters at the Philmont Scout Ranch.
June 2019HailCimarron-A second thunderstorm in two hours produced quarter size hail at the Philmont Scout Ranch.
July 2018Flash FloodCimarron-Four to five foot surge of water observed along the Cimarron River west of Cimarron.
August 2018HailCimarron-Hail up to the size of nickles reported on Philmont Scout Ranch.
August 2018Thunderstorm WindCimarron-Two large cottonwood trees were blown over onto NM-21.
August 2018Flash FloodCimarron-Flash flooding forced water and debris over U.S. Highway 64 west of Cimarron. Highway was closed for clean up.
September 2014HailCimarron-Most of the hail was nickel size or smaller but for a time there were some very near quarter size to slightly larger. Some standing water also and moderate winds.
September 2014Flash FloodCimarron-Emergency manager reporting that people were displaced from homes in Cimarron as heavy rains led creeks to overflow. Water was also reported in some homes. The village sustained extensive damage to roads from over 5 inches of rain and creek overflowing.
August 2013HailCimarron-Quarter size hail reported at Ponil Campground.
August 2013HailCimarron-Law Enforcement reported nickel size hail.
May 2013HailCimarron-Dime to penny size hail 2 miles south southwest of Philmont Scout Ranch.
August 2013HailCimarron-NWS employee from neighboring office was hiking in the area and employees from the Philmont Scout Ranch reported hail the size of golfballs associated with this storm. Numerous tree branches downed across the ranch property.
June 2012HailCimarron-Quarter size hail 1 mile east of Cimarron.
June 2012HailCimarron-Quarter size hail reported 5.7 miles east southeast of Cimarron.
May 2007HailCimarron-Hail reported at Philmont Scout Ranch HQ.
July 2002Flash FloodCimarron-Heavy debris runoff and flash flooding from recent burnt areas were reported from both Ponil and North Ponil Canyons on the Philmont Scout Ranch. An archaelogical team had advanced warning and moved to safe terrain ahead of the dangerous flows.
July 2000HailCimarron-Cimarron was pounded with hail of 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
May 1997HailCimarron-Dime hail covered the ground to one inch deep.
October 1997Tornado (F0)Cimarron-A small tornado was observed on the Tooth of Time ridge southwest of Cimarron.
October 1997Tornado (F0)Cimarron-A second small tornado developed on the CS Ranch east of Cimarron.
June 1995HailCimarron-Hail ranging from pea- to quarter-size accumulated first to near four inches deep then to a total of nine inches deep in Cimarron during two separate hail events.
May 1995HailCimarron-Storms over the county produced widespread hail which reached depths of two inches deep at Lake Maloya northeast of Raton.
May 1995HailCimarron-Storms over the county produced widespread hail which reached depths of two inches deep at Lake Maloya northeast of Raton.
June 2014HailCimarron-no account filed
June 2014HailCimarron-no account filed
September 2014HailCimarron-no account filed
May 2010HailCimarron-no account filed
June 2007HailCimarron-no account filed
June 2006HailCimarron-no account filed
August 2004HailCimarron-no account filed
August 2004HailCimarron-no account filed
June 2002HailCimarron-no account filed
May 2001Funnel CloudCimarron-no account filed
May 2001HailCimarron-no account filed
May 2001HailCimarron-no account filed
June 1999HailCimarron-no account filed
April 1999Flash FloodCimarron-no account filed
July 1999HailCimarron-no account filed
June 1999HailCimarron-no account filed
August 1996HailCimarron-no account filed
July 1996HailCimarron-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Colfax County

Newspapers printed here

859 digitised pages

3 papers published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 127 issues, 859 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

What the paper printed

27,974 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 10 issues spread across its run from 1907 to 1914, 27,974 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.

These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.

IssuePaper Length
1908-03-25The Cimarron Citizen3,728 words
1908-04-29The Cimarron Citizen3,400 words
1908-06-03The Cimarron Citizen3,500 words
1908-07-08The Cimarron Citizen3,635 words
1907-01-10The Cimarron News and Press3,824 words
1907-10-24The Cimarron News and Press3,193 words
1911-01-28The Cimarron News and Cimarron Citizen757 words
1911-05-27The Cimarron News and Cimarron Citizen1,308 words
1911-08-05The Cimarron News and Cimarron Citizen2,578 words
1914-12-31The Cimarron News and Cimarron Citizen2,051 words

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
Six Mile Gate5.9 miles11
Rayado9.8 miles12
Sunny Side10.2 miles12
Ute Park11.0 miles13
Colfax11.1 miles11
Miami12.9 miles12
Dawson (historical)13.0 miles11
Capitan Hill13.3 miles11

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 CimarronAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q652006The 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 887606. 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.