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.
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 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.
- 1904 USGS Riddle quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Glendale quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Medford quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Medford quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Medford quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Golden quadrangle1:24000
- 1989 USGS Canyonville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1996 USGS Golden quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
185 since 1992Regional 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 use | 52 |
| Natural | 48 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23 |
| Debris and open burning | 15 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 12 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Other causes | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| 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 1999 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Grants Pass Unit | DAISEY MINE ROAD |
| 5 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Medford District | SEXTON MTN LOOKOUT |
| 5 September 2017 | Smoking | under an acre | Medford District | SHANKS CREEK |
| 30 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Medford District | JACK CREEK |
| 3 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Medford District | I 5 MP 75 |
| 3 September 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Grants Pass Unit | PP # A-5746 |
| 28 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Grants Pass Unit | COYOTE CK 5710 |
| 28 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Grants Pass Unit | I-5, M.P. 71 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 166 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boulder Creek Manganese & Mineral Ledge | Manganese, Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Columbia | Chromium, Platinum, Gold | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Columbia Placer | Gold, PGE | Past Producer | ||
| Copper Queen | Gold, Copper, Silver, Mercury | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Gold | |
| Copper Queen Mine | Gold, Mercury, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Coyote Mine | Gold, Arsenic, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite | |
| Greenback | Gold, Silver, Copper, Arsenic | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite | |
| Horseshoe Lode | Gold, Silver, Copper, Manganese, Tellurium | Producer | Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Rhodochrosite | |
| Horseshoe Lode | Gold, Tellurium, Silver, Manganese, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Jantzer | Gold, Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite |
Storms near this place
1 since 2015Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2015 | Flood | Placer | - | 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. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenback (historical) | 1.4 miles | 17 | |
| Sunny Valley | 3.2 miles | 17 | |
| Golden | 3.6 miles | 17 | |
| Hugo | 5.7 miles | 17 | |
| Speaker | 5.9 miles | 17 | |
| Wolf Creek | 6.1 miles | 17 | |
| Three Pines | 6.4 miles | 17 | |
| Pleasant Valley | 6.4 miles | 17 |
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 Placer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7200308 | 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 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.







