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Tortugas, New Mexico

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Las Cruces census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88001. It stands on Tortugas Arroyo. The Survey maps it on the Las Cruces quadrangle. 579 people lived here at the 2020 count.

Tortugas within Doña Ana County

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 15 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, 2021

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.

A distant view of Tortugas, New Mexico, a community at the base of the Organ Mountain Range below Las Cruces
A distant view of Tortugas, New Mexico, a community at the base of the Organ Mountain Range below Las Cruces
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

6 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Tortugas between 1995 and 2020, burning about 101 acres in total. None 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/undetermined5
Debris and open burning1

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
2 May 1995Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionLEVEE
18 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.5 acresLas Cruces Field OfficeDEL RIO
12 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDAM FIRE
3 April 2020Debris and open burning80 acresSocorro DistrictFOG
14 April 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresLas Cruces Field OfficeMESILLA
14 April 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeGLASS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Doña Ana County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 27 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Tortugas: 10 past producers, 7 unknowns, 6 producers, 3 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Fluorine-Fluorite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Manganese. 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
Las Alturas Estates WellsGeothermalUnknown
Hoffer Mn ProspectManganeseOccurrence
Manganese NoManganeseOccurrence
Materials Pit 57-8-SStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Materials Pit 60-46-SStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducerLimestone
Unnamed Limestone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducerLimestone
JonesFluorine-FluoriteUnknown
Jones and Santiago DepositFluorine-FluoriteOccurrenceFluorite
SantiagoFluorine-FluoriteUnknown

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
Mesilla Park0.8 miles15
University Park0.9 miles15
San Pablo1.8 miles14
Four Points1.8 miles15
Mesilla2.5 miles15
Las Cruces3.2 miles15
Fairacres5.5 miles15
Santo Tomas6.1 miles15

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 TortugasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q85810242The 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 920717. 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.