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Walker Lake, Nevada

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1909 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Hawthorne census division. It lies in ZIP code area 89415. It stands on Cottonwood Creek. The Survey maps it on the Copper Canyon quadrangle. 247 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,131 feet above sea level.

Walker Lake within Mineral County

Population over time

2 figures

Walker Lake fell from 275 to 247 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
2010275
2020247-28 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 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 13 photographs shown, 2022

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.

Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
A portion of Sportsman's Beach on Walker Lake, near the small town of Schurz (named after onetime Union general and later U.S. interior secretary Carl Schurz) on the Walker River Indian Reservation in remote western Nevada
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress
Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Near Walker Lake in the barren Nevada desert, drivers heading south to Las Vegas, Nevada (or the other way up to Reno) will pass a vast and mysterious cluster of military barracks and bunkers
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress

Every photograph of Mineral County

Fires near this place

1 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Walker Lake in 2019, burning under an acre 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
Fireworks1

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
11 August 2019Fireworksunder an acreCarson City District OfficeSPORTSMANS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mineral County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Walker Lake: 3 occurrences, 3 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Tungsten, Gold, Silver, Gold, Lead. 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
Lucky Boy MineSilver, Gold, Lead, Tungsten, ZincPast ProducerArgentite, Brochantite, Galena, Linarite, Scheelite, Sphalerite, Tetrahedrite
Section 14 Inclines and AditGoldOccurrence
Walker Lake UraniumUraniumProspect
Slim PickinsTungstenUnknown
Barlow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Navy Beach PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Se Section 35 Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSedimentary
So. Section 35 Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSedimentary

Every working recorded in Mineral 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
Dutch Creek (historical)0.9 miles21
Montelle (historical)6.6 miles22
Avalon7.9 miles20
Schweer Housing Area8.3 miles22
Thorne9.2 miles23
Babbitt9.8 miles22
Rand (historical)9.8 miles20
Hawthorne11.0 miles23

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 Walker LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q613824The 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 854682. 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.