BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Mill River, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1997. It stands in New Marlborough town. It lies in ZIP code area 01244. It stands on Leffingwell Hill. The Survey maps it on the Ashley Falls quadrangle.

Mill River within Berkshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 112 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Mill River, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Mill River, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

43 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 nearby

17 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Mill River between 2015 and 2017, burning about 79 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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
Debris and open burning15
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
29 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 April 2015Debris and open burning1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2015Debris and open burning1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 April 2015Debris and open burning7.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 April 2017Equipment and vehicle use47 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,499 shown

Museums hold 1,499 specimens collected within 10 miles of Mill River between 1860 and 1975: 1,319 Plantae, 105 Animalia, 74 Fungi, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Brown, A. E. Treat, A. L. Ericson and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Percopsis omiscomaycus, not of this specimenPercopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum, 1792)1860Britton McCabeGreen R. (trib. of Housatonic R.), 1 mi. S of Great Barrington on Rt. 23
A photograph of the species Gentianella quinquefolia, not of this specimenGentianella quinquefolia subsp. quinquefolia1875not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1878L. H. HoysradtMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Chordeiles minor, not of this specimenChordeiles minor minor (J.R.Forster, 1771)1883Collector(s): H. C. Johnsonnear New Marlboro
Botrychium virginianum subsp. typicum R.T.Clausen1884Spencer, M.F.Tyringham. In silvaticis.
A photograph of the species Diphasiastrum verecundum, not of this specimenDiphasiastrum × verecundum A.V.Gilman1884Spencer, M.F.Tyringham.
A photograph of the species Juncus tenuis, not of this specimenJuncus tenuis Willd.1884J. BallGreat Barrington
A photograph of the species Solidago caesia, not of this specimenSolidago caesia L.1884J. BallGreat Barrington
A photograph of the species Acer saccharum, not of this specimenAcer saccharum Marshall1897Vail, A.M.Tyringham
A photograph of the species Acer spicatum, not of this specimenAcer spicatum Lam.1897Vail, A.M.Vicinity of Tyringham
A photograph of the species Acorus calamus, not of this specimenAcorus calamus L.1897Vail, A.M.vicnity of Tyringham

All 1,499 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Mill River: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Nickel, Iron, Iron, Gold. 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
Cleveland MineIron, Gold, SulfurPast Producer
Hotchkiss MineNickel, IronPast Producer
Eastern GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Mill River PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

8 since 2008

The National Weather Service names Mill River in 8 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 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
September 2025Thunderstorm WindMill River-A tree was downed on wires.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindMill River-A tree was downed over a roadway east of Sheffield.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindMill River-A tree was down on wires on Clayton Mill River Road.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMill River-Wires were downed.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindMill River-Trees were downed.
July 2014HailMill River-Quarter size hail was reported during a thunderstorm in Mill River.
July 2008HailMill River-Golf ball size hail was reported in Mill River during a thunderstorm.
July 2008HailMill River-Golf ball size hail was reported in Mill River during a thunderstorm.

Every storm recorded in Berkshire 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
Southfield2.0 miles38
New Marlborough2.2 miles38
Hartsville3.2 miles40
Gomorrah4.4 miles43
Sheffield4.6 miles43
Clayton4.7 miles43
East Sheffield4.9 miles43
Ashley Falls5.4 miles43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607581. 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.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

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.