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La Luz, New Mexico

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Alamogordo census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88337. It lies in La Luz Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Alamogordo North quadrangle. 1,578 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,751 feet above sea level.

La Luz within Otero County

On record in La Luz

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 5 records

Population over time

3 figures

La Luz fell from 1,615 to 1,578 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
20001,615
20101,697+82 (+5%)
20201,578-119 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 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.

Town of La Luz, La Luz Canyon Creek, Alamogordo, Otero County, NM
Town of La Luz, La Luz Canyon Creek, Alamogordo, Otero County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

30 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of La Luz between 1993 and 2019, burning about 28 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Equipment and vehicle use6
Recreation and ceremony4
Debris and open burning2
Natural2
Smoking1
Fireworks1
Other causes1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
14 September 2000Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreLincoln National ForestMILL
8 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDELBERT
5 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionFLORIDA
4 July 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionRED
4 July 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionARROYO
4 July 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionAMY
3 July 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSCENIC
7 June 2011Other causes2.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionLEGION

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Otero County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of La Luz: 8 unknowns, 5 producers, 2 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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
Paul Blankenship's Gravel PitStonePast ProducerStratabound
Dugan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
La Luz PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Ortega PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
State Hwy Pit No 56-23-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
State Hwy Pit No 59-41-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
State Hwy Pit No. 56-24-SSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Otero County

Storms near this place

11 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Luz in 11 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 5 flash flood, 3 hail, 2 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
August 2023Heavy RainLa Luz-An observer in La Luz recorded 3.33 inches of rain on the afternoon of the 23rd. Additional heavy rain reports included 2.43 inches in Cloudcroft, 2.35 inches about a mile northwest of High Rolls and 2.14 inches in High Rolls. Several other locations in and around the Sacramento Mountains reported an inch and a half to 2 inches of rain.
June 2019Flash FloodLa Luz-Water was shown running over Riata Road coming out of Rancheria Canyon near Alamogordo.
September 2014Flash FloodLa Luz-Highway 82 was closed just west of the tunnel to Cloudcroft was closed due to a rock slide. A section of road at La Luz Creek crossing was closed as well due to flooding.
September 2013Flash FloodLa Luz-Serious flooding was reported in downtown Alamogordo. Street flooding was also reported in Boles Acres. Highway 82 out of Alamogordo was also flooded.
July 2012Heavy RainLa Luz-A heavy thunderstorm moved slowly across La Luz, NM and produced 1.10 inches of rainfall in less that one hour. A trained spotter also reported minor street flooding in association with the heavy rainfall.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindLa Luz-A Skywarn Spotter estimated winds gusting to 60 mph northeast of La Luz, NM.
August 2006Flash FloodLa Luz-An arroyo overflowed with water covering a road in La luz.
October 2006HailLa Luz-Nickel size hail accumulated to several inches in the western foothills of the Sacramento Mountains.
July 1999Flash FloodLa Luz-Heavy thunderstorm rains caused extensive flooding of several canyons near La Luz, with flooding extending to most roads in the area. U.S. Highway 54 was covered by 2 feet of water and a foot of mud, and was closed between Alamogrodo and Tularosa for 90 minutes. A weather spotter measured 3.5 inches of rain in La Luz, with higher amounts estimated in the nearby canyons. There were no injuries or deaths.
June 2015HailLa Luz-no account filed
June 2015HailLa Luz-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Otero 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
Kearney2.7 miles12
Alamorosa3.3 miles9
Alamogordo5.5 miles12
High Rolls5.9 miles11
Mountain Park6.5 miles11
Tularosa7.8 miles13
Omlee9.8 miles13
Cloudcroft10.7 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 La LuzAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3301868The 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 920624. 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.