BlockBefore

Las Palomas, New Mexico

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Truth or Consequences West census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87942. It stands on Palomas Creek. The Survey maps it on the Williamsburg quadrangle. 196 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,268 feet above sea level.

Las Palomas within Sierra County

Population over time

2 figures

Las Palomas grew from 173 to 196 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
2010173
2020196+23 (+13%)

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.

Fires near this place

22 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Las Palomas between 1993 and 2019, burning about 190 acres in total. 1 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/undetermined15
Equipment and vehicle use4
Arson/incendiarism1
Natural1
Recreation and ceremony1

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 August 2012Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMM73 I-25
25 June 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.3 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOOL
31 May 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionRV
24 May 1993Natural2.0 acresLas Cruces Field OfficePALOMASGAP
12 May 2018Equipment and vehicle use27 acresSocorro DistrictBROWN
7 April 2014Equipment and vehicle use2.1 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMARSH
7 April 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMESCAL
6 April 1997Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOCKABURR

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sierra County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 51 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 51 workings within 5 miles of Las Palomas: 25 past producers, 13 prospects, 7 unknowns, 3 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper, 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
AshlandSeleniumProspect
Barney Iorio Number OneGeothermalUnknown
Black Jack GroupManganese, TungstenPast Producer1939, 1942, 1958
Blue Jacket ProspectFluorine-Fluorite, Barium-Barite, SilicaPast Producer
Dewey and White Swan DepositsLead, Tungsten, Vanadium, Fluorine-FluoritePast Producer
Dewey and White Swan MinesVanadium, Lead, Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Zinc, Barium-BaritePast Producer1900, 1905, 1911
Forty-One ClaimFluorine-Fluorite, ManganesePast Producer1952
Franklin No 1 & 2GoldUnknown
Governor GroupFluorine-Fluorite, CopperPast ProducerBornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Cuprite, Fluorite, Malachite
MarianCopper, Gold, Silver, Fluorine-FluoritePast Producer

Every working recorded in Sierra County

Storms near this place

3 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Las Palomas in 3 storm reports between 2008 and 2016: 3 flash 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
August 2008Flash FloodLas Palomas$150,000Cuchillo Creek overflowed, closing nearby roads as well as Highway 187 near Las Palomas. Levees were washed out and at least one home was heavily damaged.
September 2009Flash FloodLas Palomas$125,000More than 2.5 inches of rain resulted in flash flooding around Palomas. At least 5 homes were inundated and several cars were stranded in flood waters.
October 2016Flash FloodLas Palomas-Numerous reports of flash flooding were received around a 5 mile radius of Williamsburg. Flooding was reported on King Canyon Road and water was above bridge level on Highway 187 along with debris on the road. Palomas Creek was flooded about 6 miles northwest of the I-25 bridge.

Every storm recorded in Sierra 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
Williamsburg3.7 miles11
Truth or Consequences5.1 miles9
Caballo6.0 miles9
Elephant Butte8.5 miles14
Oasis9.6 miles9
Elephant Butte Estates9.8 miles14
Hot Springs Landing11.0 miles14
Rock Canyon12.1 miles14

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 Las PalomasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5671210The 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 899716. 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.