BlockBefore

Placer, Oregon

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Grants Pass census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97497. It stands on Tom East Creek. The Survey maps it on the Golden quadrangle. It stands 1,431 feet above sea level.

Placer within Josephine County

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

185 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 185 fires within 5 miles of Placer between 1992 and 2020, burning about 334 acres in total. 48 started naturally. 7 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 use52
Natural48
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Debris and open burning15
Recreation and ceremony12
Smoking11
Other causes8
Arson/incendiarism7
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Firearms and explosives use1
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
9 September 1999Smoking1.0 acresGrants Pass UnitDAISEY MINE ROAD
5 September 2019Naturalunder an acreMedford DistrictSEXTON MTN LOOKOUT
5 September 2017Smokingunder an acreMedford DistrictSHANKS CREEK
30 September 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMedford DistrictJACK CREEK
3 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMedford DistrictI 5 MP 75
3 September 1998Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreGrants Pass UnitPP # A-5746
28 September 2006Debris and open burningunder an acreGrants Pass UnitCOYOTE CK 5710
28 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreGrants Pass UnitI-5, M.P. 71

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Josephine County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 166 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 166 workings within 5 miles of Placer: 54 past producers, 51 occurrences, 35 prospects, 19 producers. 19 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Silver, Copper. 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
Boulder Creek Manganese & Mineral LedgeManganese, IronOccurrence
ColumbiaChromium, Platinum, GoldProducerStream Placer
Columbia PlacerGold, PGEPast Producer
Copper QueenGold, Copper, Silver, MercuryPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Gold
Copper Queen MineGold, Mercury, CopperPast Producer
Coyote MineGold, Arsenic, Copper, SilverPast ProducerChalcopyrite
GreenbackGold, Silver, Copper, ArsenicPast ProducerChalcopyrite
Horseshoe LodeGold, Silver, Copper, Manganese, TelluriumProducerChalcopyrite, Pyrite, Rhodochrosite
Horseshoe LodeGold, Tellurium, Silver, Manganese, CopperPast Producer
JantzerGold, ChromiumOccurrenceChromite

Every working recorded in Josephine County

Storms near this place

1 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Placer in 1 storm report in 2015: 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
February 2015FloodPlacer-High water closed 2 of the 4 lanes on Highway 199 near Sauer's Flat. Water was also over Highway 238 between mileposts 20 and 23 near Applegate. Riverbank road near Wilderville was flooded in places with the worst flooding near Griffin Park. One foot of water was reported on Highway 199 near Selma. Many roads were closed near Selma and O'Brien due to flooding. Butch Knife Creek near Selma flooded.

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
Greenback (historical)1.4 miles17
Sunny Valley3.2 miles17
Golden3.6 miles17
Hugo5.7 miles17
Speaker5.9 miles17
Wolf Creek6.1 miles17
Three Pines6.4 miles17
Pleasant Valley6.4 miles17

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 PlacerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7200308The 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 1125461. 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.