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Sprakers, New York

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Root town. It lies in ZIP code area 12166. It stands on Flat Creek. The Survey maps it on the Canajoharie quadrangle. It stands 302 feet above sea level.

Sprakers within Montgomery County

Then and now

1898 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Sprakers, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Sprakers, surveyed 1898

On record in Sprakers

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 18 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.

Fires near this place

61 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 61 fires within 5 miles of Sprakers between 1995 and 2020, burning about 63 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 12 were 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/undetermined35
Arson/incendiarism12
Natural5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking3
Debris and open burning2
Recreation and ceremony1

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 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
18 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
16 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
14 August 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
11 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
27 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
24 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
21 July 2020Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Montgomery County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Sprakers: 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead, Barium-Barite, Sulfur, Garnet. 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
Flat Creek DepositLead, Barium-Barite, SulfurOccurrence
Spraker's Basin DepositGarnet, QuartzOccurrence
Coddington BankSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Root PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Weaver's PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Montgomery County

Storms near this place

13 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sprakers in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 6 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 flood. 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 1994Thunderstorm WindSprakers$50,000no account filed
August 2001Thunderstorm WindSprakers$21,000no account filed
March 2024FloodSprakers-State Route 5s was blocked between Sprakers Hill Road and Borden Road due to flooding.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSprakers-A concentrated path of tree damage to hardwood trees was observed near Sprakers. The damage began along State Route 5s and continued in a northeasterly direction crossing over the New York State Thruway east of exit 29, the Erie Canal and over State Route 5 continuing up the hillside north of Route 5 before ending.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindSprakers-Trees were downed onto wires in the Hamlet of Sprakers.
September 2021Flash FloodSprakers-A trained spotter reported a road closure due to flooding near Route 5S and Sprakers Hill Road.
June 2014Flash FloodSprakers-Currytown Road was closed as a result of flash flooding from thunderstorms heavy rainfall. Several nearby homes had water in their basements. A nearby beaver dam may have been responsible for the severity of the flash flooding.
August 2014Flash FloodSprakers-Heavy rainfall from repeated rounds of slow moving thunderstorms led to flash flooding in Montgomery County. A mudslide along Route 5S closed the roadway between Canajoharie and Route 162 in Sprakers. Sprakers Road was also closed between Jump Road and the village of Canajoharie. The New York State Thruway was also closed at Exit 29 (Canajoharie) due to high water on the roadway between Exit 28 (Fultonville) and Exit 29 (Canajoharie).
August 2014Flash FloodSprakers-Route 162 at Flat Creek Road in Sprakers was closed due to flash flooding from thunderstorm heavy rainfall.
August 2014Flash FloodSprakers-Monk Road was washed out and closed in Sprakers due to flash flooding from heavy rainfall due to slow moving thunderstorms.
June 2013Flash FloodSprakers-Several roads were reportedly closed near Flat Creek due to flash flooding.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindSprakers-Two trees were reported down in the town of Root due to strong thunderstorm winds.
June 1994HailSprakers-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Montgomery 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
McKinley1.6 miles18
Canajoharie3.2 miles18
Yosts3.2 miles21
Cook Corners3.3 miles18
Flat Creek3.4 miles18
Palatine Bridge3.5 miles18
Currytown3.5 miles20
Randall3.9 miles21

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 SprakersAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q14707324The 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 966043. 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.