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

Smiths, Massachusetts

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in New Salem town. It lies in ZIP code area 01355. It stands on Thurston Brook. The Survey maps it on the Winsor Dam quadrangle. The federal gazetteer marks this settlement historical: it is no longer a populated place, though the surveys that recorded it still are.

Smiths within Franklin County

Then and now

1887 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Smiths (historical), surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Smiths (historical), surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

32 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

5 since 2004

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Smiths (historical) between 2004 and 2020, burning about 2 acres in total. 1 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 burning2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1
Recreation and ceremony1

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
20 August 2020Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLITTLE QUABBIN ISLAND FIRE
9 July 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 April 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
19 April 2004Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,201 shown

Museums hold 1,201 specimens collected within 10 miles of Smiths (historical) between 1831 and 1975: 647 Plantae, 374 Animalia, 142 Fungi, 36 Chromista, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. Clark, A. K. Harrison 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 Puccinia asparagi DC.Puccinia asparagi DC.1896G. M. StoneAmherst
A photograph of the species Ranunculus ambigens, not of this specimenRanunculus ambigens S.Watson1831S. Shurtleff
A photograph of the species Elodea nuttallii, not of this specimenElodea nuttallii (Planch.) H.St.John1847H. G. Jesup
A photograph of the species Biatora sanguineoatra, not of this specimenBiatora sanguineoatra (Wulfen) Tuck.1848Tuckerman Edward
A photograph of the species Parnassia glauca, not of this specimenParnassia glauca Raf.1858R. Mock
A photograph of the species Polygaloides paucifolia, not of this specimenPolygaloides paucifolia (Willd.) J.R.Abbott1858R. Mock
A photograph of the species Uvularia perfoliata, not of this specimenUvularia perfoliata L.1858R. Mock
A photograph of the species Glyceria striata, not of this specimenGlyceria striata (Lam.) Hitchc.1859not recorded
A photograph of the species Juncus pelocarpus, not of this specimenJuncus pelocarpus E.Mey.1860E. TuckermanShutesbury.
A photograph of the species Bremia lactucae, not of this specimenBremia lactucae Regel1892J. E. HumphreyAmherst
A photograph of the species Melampsora abietis-caprearum, not of this specimenMelampsora abietis-caprearum Tubeuf1892J. E. Humphrey
Peronospora gangliformis de Bary1892JE Humphrey

All 1,201 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

1 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Smiths (historical): 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. 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
Andrews MineIronOccurrence1871

Every working recorded in Franklin 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
Prescott Center4.4 miles32
Prescott (historical)4.4 miles32
North Prescott8.8 miles32
Baconville8.9 miles35
Cooleyville9.6 miles32
Shutesbury9.8 miles35
Pratt Corner9.9 miles35
Millington (historical)10.3 miles32

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617521. 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.