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

Rock Valley, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Holyoke City. It lies in ZIP code area 01040. It stands on East Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Mount Tom quadrangle.

Rock Valley within Hampden County

Then and now

1886 to 1998

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 Rock Valley, surveyed 1998
Topographic sheet of Rock Valley, surveyed 1886

Compare 1886 against another survey:

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

267 since 2004

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 267 fires within 5 miles of Rock Valley between 2004 and 2020, burning about 183 acres in total. 27 started naturally. 2 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 use106
Missing data/not specified/undetermined96
Natural27
Debris and open burning17
Recreation and ceremony14
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
11 September 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,008 shown

Museums hold 2,008 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rock Valley between 1831 and 1975: 960 Plantae, 684 Animalia, 332 Fungi, 17 Chromista, 9 Unrecorded, 5 Protozoa, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Albee, A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson 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
Specimen of Lycopodiella inundata (L.) HolubLycopodiella inundata (L.) Holub1892ChapmanSouthhampton
Specimen of Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.1894W.G. Farlow
Specimen of Camissonia LinkCamissonia Link1898B. L. Robinson
A photograph of the species Carex bromoides, not of this specimenCarex bromoides Willd.1831Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1836Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1836Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia var. latifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Pogonia ophioglossoides, not of this specimenPogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl.1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Carex siccata, not of this specimenCarex siccata Dewey1844Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Amphicarpaea bracteata, not of this specimenAmphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald1845Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Galeopsis tetrahit, not of this specimenGaleopsis tetrahit L.1845not recorded

All 2,008 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 19 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Rock Valley: 8 past producers, 8 producers, 3 occurrences. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Brick Clay, Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Macia Emery MineEmeryOccurrenceEmery
Sandstone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
Southampton AreaZinc, Lead, VanadiumOccurrenceDescloizite, Vanadinite
Sandstone QuarryStone, DimensionProducerSandstone
Sandstone QuarryStone, DimensionProducerSandstone
Westfield Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Westfield Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay

Every working recorded in Hampden 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
Hampton Ponds1.5 miles43
Owen District2.5 miles43
Ingleside2.6 miles43
Elmwood2.7 miles44
Oakdale2.8 miles44
Springdale2.9 miles44
Willimansett3.1 miles44
Brightside3.1 miles43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608798. 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.