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.
Population over time
2 figuresLas 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 173 | |
| 2020 | 196 | +23 (+13%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 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 Tucson Spring quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Tularosa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Tularosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Williamsburg quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1979 USGS Truth or Consequences quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
22 since 1993Regional 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/undetermined | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MM73 I-25 |
| 25 June 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.3 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | COOL |
| 31 May 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | RV |
| 24 May 1993 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Las Cruces Field Office | PALOMASGAP |
| 12 May 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 27 acres | Socorro District | BROWN |
| 7 April 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.1 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MARSH |
| 7 April 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MESCAL |
| 6 April 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | COCKABURR |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 51 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | Selenium | Prospect | ||
| Barney Iorio Number One | Geothermal | Unknown | ||
| Black Jack Group | Manganese, Tungsten | Past Producer | 1939, 1942, 1958 | |
| Blue Jacket Prospect | Fluorine-Fluorite, Barium-Barite, Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Dewey and White Swan Deposits | Lead, Tungsten, Vanadium, Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | ||
| Dewey and White Swan Mines | Vanadium, Lead, Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Zinc, Barium-Barite | Past Producer | 1900, 1905, 1911 | |
| Forty-One Claim | Fluorine-Fluorite, Manganese | Past Producer | 1952 | |
| Franklin No 1 & 2 | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Governor Group | Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper | Past Producer | Bornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Cuprite, Fluorite, Malachite | |
| Marian | Copper, Gold, Silver, Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2008Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2008 | Flash Flood | Las Palomas | $150,000 | Cuchillo 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 2009 | Flash Flood | Las Palomas | $125,000 | More 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 2016 | Flash Flood | Las 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. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williamsburg | 3.7 miles | 11 | |
| Truth or Consequences | 5.1 miles | 9 | |
| Caballo | 6.0 miles | 9 | |
| Elephant Butte | 8.5 miles | 14 | |
| Oasis | 9.6 miles | 9 | |
| Elephant Butte Estates | 9.8 miles | 14 | |
| Hot Springs Landing | 11.0 miles | 14 | |
| Rock Canyon | 12.1 miles | 14 |
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 Palomas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5671210 | 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 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.




