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Thoreau, New Mexico

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Red Rock census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87323. The Survey maps it on the Thoreau quadrangle. 2,367 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,218 feet above sea level.

Thoreau within McKinley County

On record in Thoreau

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

Population over time

3 figures

Thoreau grew from 1,863 to 2,367 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
20001,863
20101,865+2 (+0%)
20202,367+502 (+27%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 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

6 photographs, 1943 to 2020

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.

Thoreau, New Mexico. Section crew coming in after a day's work along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Thoreau, New Mexico. Section crew coming in after a day's work along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Thoreau, New Mexico. The diesel streamliner "Super Chief" going west along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Thoreau, New Mexico. The diesel streamliner "Super Chief" going west along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Thoreau, New Mexico. Section crew coming in after a day's work on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Thoreau, New Mexico. Section crew coming in after a day's work on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Thoreau, New Mexico. A train stopping at a siding along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Thoreau, New Mexico. A train stopping at a siding along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Thoreau, New Mexico. Conductor C.W. Tevis, with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad for thirty-two years
Thoreau, New Mexico. Conductor C.W. Tevis, with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad for thirty-two years
Delano, Jack, 1943. Library of Congress
Herman's Garage, at least vestiges of which are (as of 2021) still in business in tiny Thoreau, New Mexico
Herman's Garage, at least vestiges of which are (as of 2021) still in business in tiny Thoreau, New Mexico
Highsmith, Carol M, 2020. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

12 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Thoreau between 2000 and 2020, burning about 30 acres in total. 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Natural3
Debris and open burning1
Smoking1
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
21 July 2016Naturalunder an acreBernalillo DistrictSINGLE TREE
11 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.5 acresBernalillo DistrictBLACK OSO
9 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresBernalillo DistrictTHOREAU
7 June 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionMT. POWELL
5 June 2000Smoking1.5 acresCibola National ForestTHOREAU
16 June 2013Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestMARAPAGE RANCH
6 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.7 acresBernalillo DistrictHWY 612
26 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.7 acresBernalillo District20-61500561X

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in McKinley County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Thoreau: 6 unknowns, 5 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Uranium, 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
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Kimbler PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Sand PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Eagle Uran DepositUraniumUnknown
Largo Uran DepositUraniumUnknown
UnnamedUraniumProspect
UnnamedUraniumProspect
UnnamedUraniumProspect
UnnamedUraniumProspect

Every working recorded in McKinley County

Storms near this place

3 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Thoreau in 3 storm reports between 1997 and 2013: 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 2012Flash FloodThoreau$150,000Flooding was reported into Thoreau Baptist Church, Giant Gas Station, Thoreau Chapter House as well as multiple other businesses and 6 homes. Several bridges and roads were also washed over with debris, including state roads 118, 371 and 612 and county roads 61, 27, 51, and Castle Rock.
September 2013Flash FloodThoreau-NM 412 closed between Prewitt and Bluewater Lake. Debris reported over NM 612.
September 1997Flash FloodThoreau-Water ran over the Highway 612 bridge on the Rio San Jose above Bluewater Lake.

Every storm recorded in McKinley 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
North Chaves3.5 miles16
South Chaves3.9 miles16
Continental Divide5.1 miles16
Gonzales5.5 miles16
Bluewater6.5 miles16
Coolidge8.0 miles16
Homer C Jones9.1 miles17
Smith Lake9.4 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 ThoreauAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2891957The 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 911673. 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.