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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.

Watrous within Mora County

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

Surveyed buildings and structures 12 of 32 shown

Every surveyed structure in Mora County

Population over time

2 figures

Watrous 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.

YearPeople Change
2010135
202099-36 (-27%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 13 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

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.

Fort Union, Visitors' Center, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Visitors' Center, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Officers' Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Officers' Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Hospital, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Hospital, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Sutler's Store, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Sutler's Store, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Quartermaster Storehouse, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Quartermaster Storehouse, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Watrous House, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Watrous House, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Quartermaster's Office, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Quartermaster's Office, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Union, Clerk's Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Fort Union, Clerk's Quarters, State Highway No. 161, Watrous, Mora County, NM
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Mora County

Fires near this place

16 since 1994

Regional 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
Natural6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Debris and open burning5

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
8 August 2003Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionPOWERLINE
6 August 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreLas Vegas DistrictPHOENIX
5 August 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionCOTTONWOOD
27 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresNew Mexico State Forestry Divisionnot named
10 August 2003Naturalunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionDOGIE
5 July 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSTARKEY
28 July 2016Natural2.0 acresLas Vegas DistrictVALMORA
25 July 2016Natural273 acresLas Vegas DistrictBLACK WILLOW RANCH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mora County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
B.T.U. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerSedimentary
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Materials PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Mora County

Storms near this place

10 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2007HailWatrous$2,000The 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 1993HailWatrous$500The public reported nickel-size hail in Watrous at 1630 MST.
August 1998HailWatrous-Quarter size hail was reported in both Watrous and Valmora.
August 2012HailWatrous-no account filed
August 2012HailWatrous-no account filed
June 2007HailWatrous-no account filed
July 2005HailWatrous-no account filed
July 2005HailWatrous-no account filed
May 1997HailWatrous-no account filed
August 1996HailWatrous-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mora 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
Tiptonville2.2 miles13
Valmora3.6 miles13
Shoemaker5.9 miles13
Loma Parda6.3 miles14
Cherry Valley (historical)7.3 miles13
Optimo11.7 miles13
Golondrinas12.8 miles15
Ciruela14.2 miles13

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 WatrousAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6166565The 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.