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Merlin, Oregon

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Northwest Josephine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97532. It stands on Louse Creek. The Survey maps it on the Merlin quadrangle. 1,690 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 907 feet above sea level.

Merlin within Josephine County

On record in Merlin

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Merlin grew from 1,615 to 1,690 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
20101,615
20201,690+75 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 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

553 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 553 fires within 5 miles of Merlin between 1992 and 2020, burning about 382 acres in total. 46 started naturally. 14 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
Equipment and vehicle use126
Debris and open burning89
Missing data/not specified/undetermined70
Smoking62
Natural46
Misuse of fire by a minor33
Fireworks29
Power generation/transmission/distribution28
Other causes27
Recreation and ceremony21
Arson/incendiarism14
Railroad operations and maintenance6
Firearms and explosives use2

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
9 September 2001Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreGrants Pass UnitHIGHLAND AVE
9 September 1998Arson/incendiarismunder an acreGrants Pass UnitHIGHLAND
8 September 2007Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGrants Pass UnitROBERTSON BRIDGE
8 September 1993Naturalunder an acreGrants Pass UnitSALLSTEN ROAD
7 September 2015Smokingunder an acreMedford DistrictPORTLAND AVENUE
7 September 2006Other causesunder an acreGrants Pass UnitPOTTS WAY 764
7 September 1996Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreGrants Pass UnitEAST CROW ROAD
7 September 1995Other causesunder an acreGrants Pass UnitSUGARPINE DRIVE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Josephine County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 47 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 47 workings within 5 miles of Merlin: 19 past producers, 11 producers, 9 occurrences, 8 prospects. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Molybdenum OccurrenceCopper, MolybdenumOccurrenceChalcopyrite, Molybdenite
Unnamed Molybdenum OccurrenceCopper, MolybdenumProspect
Unnamed P9itGraniteProducer
White WonderSilica, Silver, Nickel, Gold, CopperProspect
Big Four PlacerGold, PlatinumPast Producer
Big Four PlacerGold, PlatinumProducerStream Placer
Chrome ProspectChromiumPast Producer
Hibbard ProspectGold, SilverProducerVein
Hibbard ProspectGold, SilverPast Producer
Unnamed ProspectChromiumProspect

Every working recorded in Josephine County

Storms near this place

2 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Merlin in 2 storm reports between 2005 and 2011: 1 heavy rain, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2011HailMerlin-Reported hail size close to golf balls with lots of lightning.
April 2005Heavy RainMerlin-A spotter 2 SSW of Merlin recorded 2.00 inches of rain in 45 minutes ending at 1655 PDT.

Every storm recorded in Josephine 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
Pleasant Valley3.3 miles17
Three Pines3.5 miles17
Hugo4.7 miles17
Redwood6.8 miles18
Grants Pass7.3 miles19
Leland8.4 miles17
Sunny Valley8.7 miles17
Fruitdale8.8 miles19

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 MerlinAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3458316The 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 1166680. 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.