Gerlach, Nevada
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the High Desert census division. It lies in ZIP code area 89412. The Survey maps it on the Gerlach quadrangle. 130 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,944 feet above sea level.
On record in Gerlach
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
Gerlach Water Towerlisted 1981
Population over time
2 figuresGerlach fell from 206 to 130 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 | 206 | |
| 2020 | 130 | -76 (-37%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 20 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.
- 1886 USGS Granite Range quadrangle1:250000
- 1894 USGS Granite Range quadrangle1:250000, 7 printings
- 1955 USGS Lovelock quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1959 USGS Lovelock quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Gerlach quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Gerlach quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS Gerlach quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
6 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Gerlach between 1996 and 2017, burning about 4 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Winnemucca District Office | EMPIRE |
| 7 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.3 acres | Winnemucca District Office | RV |
| 30 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Winnemucca District Office | EMPIRE RANCH |
| 7 August 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Winnemucca District Office | RANGER |
| 1 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Winnemucca District Office | GERLACH |
| 10 November 1996 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Winnemucca District Office | BLACKROCK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Gerlach: 3 occurrences, 2 producers, 1 plant, 1 past producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Boron-Borates, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Uranium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Empire Mill | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Plant | ||
| Great Boiling Springs | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Great Boiling Springs Uranium Occurrence | Uranium | Occurrence | ||
| Gerlach Area Borate Deposit | Boron-Borates | Occurrence | ||
| Gerlach Hot Springs | Boron-Borates | Occurrence | Ulexite | |
| Gerlach Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lower E. Panther Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gerlach in 9 storm reports between 2002 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 heavy rain, 2 flash flood, 1 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 2013 | Flash Flood | Gerlach | $10,000 | Slow-moving thunderstorms with heavy rainfall caused flash flooding over highway 447 about 5 miles northwest of Gerlach. The road was closed due to the flooding. |
| October 2024 | Heavy Rain | Gerlach | - | A mesonet station (FW0371-Gerlach) located in Gerlach, NV, reported 24 hour rainfall totaling 0.57 inches. |
| August 2022 | Heavy Rain | Gerlach | - | Mesonet stations Fox Mountain (FOXN2) located 27 mi NNW of Gerlach, NV, and Juniper Springs (JSPN2) located 36 mi S of Vya, NV, both reported rainfall totals of 0.59 inches and 0.83 inches respectively. |
| April 2018 | Heavy Rain | Gerlach | - | Mesonet station F0371, near Gerlach (elevation 3953 feet) reported 0.58 inches of rainfall in a 24 hour period from 6 April 1014PST to 7 April 1014PST. |
| August 2017 | Flash Flood | Gerlach | - | A nearly stationary thunderstorm produced over 2 inches of rain and caused a debris flow across Nevada Highway 447 south of Gerlach, Nevada. Nevada Department of Transportation reported mud and debris in the roadway blocking all lanes in both directions. No damage estimates were available. |
| August 2014 | Hail | Gerlach | - | Dime to nickel-sized hail was reported in Gerlach. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gerlach | - | A wind gust of 50 knots (58 mph) was reported in Gerlach. |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gerlach | - | 78 mph wind gust |
| July 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gerlach | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empire | 5.3 miles | 20 | |
| Phil | 6.1 miles | 20 | |
| Deep Hole | 8.2 miles | 20 | |
| Hot Springs (historical) | 14.5 miles | 18 | |
| Reynard | 18.2 miles | 18 | |
| Buffalo Meadows (historical) | 20.7 miles | 18 | |
| Smoke Creek | 21.7 miles | 19 | |
| Sano | 27.6 miles | 19 |
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 Gerlach | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5550916 | 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 845471. 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.






