Watrous, New Mexico
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Wagon Mound census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87753. It stands on Sapello River. The Survey maps it on the Watrous quadrangle. 99 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,421 feet above sea level.
On record in Watrous
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 4 records
WatrousNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Fort Union National Monumentlisted 1966- Tipton-Black Willow Ranch Historic Districtlisted 2001
- Valmora Sanatorium Historic Districtlisted 1995
Surveyed buildings and structures 12 of 32 shown
- Fort Union, Clerk's Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 4 photographs
- Fort Union, Commanding Officer's Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 7 photographs
- Fort Union, Commissary Storehouse, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 5 photographs
- Fort Union, Commissary's Office, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 5 photographs
- Fort Union, Company Quarters, Prison & Laundresses' Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 3 photographs
- Fort Union, Company Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Fort Union, Company Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Fort Union, Company Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Fort Union, Company Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 1 photograph
- Fort Union, Guardhouse, Bakery & Laundresses' Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 3 photographs
- Fort Union, Hospital, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 3 photographs
- Fort Union, Mechanics' Shops, State Highway No. 161, Watrousfederal building survey, 8 photographs
Population over time
2 figuresWatrous fell from 135 to 99 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 | 135 | |
| 2020 | 99 | -36 (-27%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1892 USGS Watrous quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Watrous quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Santa Fe quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Santa Fe quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Watrous quadrangle1:24000
- 1981 USGS Roy quadrangle1:100000
Photographs
8 of 15 photographs shown,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.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Every photograph of Mora County
Fires near this place
16 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Watrous between 1994 and 2019, burning about 349 acres in total. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 August 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | POWERLINE |
| 6 August 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Las Vegas District | PHOENIX |
| 5 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | COTTONWOOD |
| 27 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | not named |
| 10 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | DOGIE |
| 5 July 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | STARKEY |
| 28 July 2016 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Las Vegas District | VALMORA |
| 25 July 2016 | Natural | 273 acres | Las Vegas District | BLACK WILLOW RANCH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Watrous: 2 unknowns, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.T.U. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watrous in 10 storm reports between 1993 and 2012: 10 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2007 | Hail | Watrous | $2,000 | The hail ranged from 0.88 to 1.50 inches in diameter. Damage was reported to windows, trees and vegetation. A funnel cloud was also observed. |
| May 1993 | Hail | Watrous | $500 | The public reported nickel-size hail in Watrous at 1630 MST. |
| August 1998 | Hail | Watrous | - | Quarter size hail was reported in both Watrous and Valmora. |
| August 2012 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| August 2012 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
| August 1996 | Hail | Watrous | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiptonville | 2.2 miles | 13 | |
| Valmora | 3.6 miles | 13 | |
| Shoemaker | 5.9 miles | 13 | |
| Loma Parda | 6.3 miles | 14 | |
| Cherry Valley (historical) | 7.3 miles | 13 | |
| Optimo | 11.7 miles | 13 | |
| Golondrinas | 12.8 miles | 15 | |
| Ciruela | 14.2 miles | 13 |
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 Watrous | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6166565 | 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 896280. 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.





