Bell, Oklahoma
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Stilwell East census division. It lies in ZIP code area 74960. It lies near Sally Bull Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Big Round Mountain quadrangle. 191 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresBell fell from 535 to 191 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 | 535 | |
| 2020 | 191 | -344 (-64%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 19 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.
- 1898 USGS Tahlequah quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Tahlequah quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1905 USGS Tahlequah quadrangle1:125000
- 1946 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Big Round Mountain quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1973 USGS Moten Mountain quadrangle1:24000
- 1978 USGS Fort Smith quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Stilwell quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
2,949 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2,949 fires within 5 miles of Bell between 1992 and 2020, burning about 76,324 acres in total. 46 started naturally. 2064 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 |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 2064 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 521 |
| Debris and open burning | 213 |
| Natural | 46 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 32 |
| Smoking | 30 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 17 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | 30470 |
| 9 September 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 20 acres | Cherokee Nation Tribe | STEP DOWN |
| 9 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Cherokee Nation Tribe | 30549A |
| 9 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Cherokee Nation Tribe | CMS#1 |
| 8 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 8 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 8 September 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 2.0 acres | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
| 7 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Oklahoma Division of Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Bell: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown Shale Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | 3.3 miles | 17 | |
| Honey Hill | 3.6 miles | 17 | |
| Cherry Tree | 3.9 miles | 18 | |
| Zion | 5.4 miles | 17 | |
| Elohim City | 6.2 miles | 19 | |
| Blanch | 6.5 miles | 17 | |
| Stilwell | 7.2 miles | 17 | |
| Greasy | 7.5 miles | 18 |
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 Bell | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3313563 | 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 1100201. 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.









