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Lajitas, Texas

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Alpine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 79852. It stands on Comanche Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lajitas quadrangle. It stands 2,342 feet above sea level.

Lajitas within Brewster County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 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.

Photographs

1 photograph, 2014

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

A portion of the Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa in Lajitas, an unincorporated town at the spot that separates Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park in southern Brewster County, Texas
A portion of the Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa in Lajitas, an unincorporated town at the spot that separates Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park in southern Brewster County, Texas
Highsmith, Carol M, 2014. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

3 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Lajitas between 1997 and 2008, burning under an acre in total. 2 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
Natural2
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
11 May 1997Naturalunder an acreBig Bend National ParkAMY3
24 November 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreBig Bend National ParkMETATE
11 October 1997Naturalunder an acreBig Bend National ParkLV

Every fire recorded in Brewster County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Lajitas: 3 occurrences, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Mercury, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Silver, Mercury, Vanadium, Lead, Zinc, Vanadium, Silver, Mercury, 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
LajitasLead, Zinc, Gold, Silver, Mercury, VanadiumOccurrence
LajitasLead, Zinc, Vanadium, Silver, Mercury, GoldOccurrence
Contrabando Dome MineMercuryPast Producer1935
Unnamed ProspectsMercuryOccurrence

Every working recorded in Brewster County

Storms near this place

17 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lajitas in 17 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 12 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 2008FloodLajitas$14,000,000Lajitas Resort and Spa owner reported flooding across most of his property. This included the Ambush Golf Course, which was covered in water.
October 2009Thunderstorm WindLajitas$40,000Rio Grande Electric Coop and the public reported wind damage from Lajitas, TX to Terlingua, TX. The severe winds first damaged the roof of a home and 6 power poles in Lajitas around 1700 CST. As the storm moved northeastward, it snapped 4 more power poles along State Highway 170 from Lajitas to Terlingua.
April 2004HailLajitas$30,000Seven vehicles received hail damage during the storm.
July 2005Flash FloodLajitas$1,000The public reported that flowing flood waters had washed away high water markers in low water crossings on several roads.
May 2023Flash FloodLajitas-TxDot El Paso reported flooding of Comanche Creek and Ranch Road 170.
June 2007Flash FloodLajitas-Six feet of water flowed through Comanche Creek across Farm to Market Road 170 just northeast of Lajitas.
June 2005HailLajitas-Nickel to quarter size hail was reported in Lajitas.A pair of severe thunderstorms propagated northward and crossed the Rio Grande during the afternoon of the 9th. These storms produced large hail in southern Brewster County.
April 2004HailLajitas-Supercell thunderstorms moving northeast into the extreme southwest portion of Brewster County produced grapefruit to softball size hail for 22 minutes. Reports indicated that the softball size hail occurred around 530 pm CST.
May 2017HailLajitas-no account filed
April 2017HailLajitas-no account filed
October 2009HailLajitas-no account filed
April 2007HailLajitas-no account filed
April 2007HailLajitas-no account filed
April 2007HailLajitas-no account filed
June 2007HailLajitas-no account filed
June 2005HailLajitas-no account filed
June 1997HailLajitas-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Brewster 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
Terlingua9.5 miles16
Terlingua Abaja10.1 miles15
Lunas13.2 miles15
Tres Papalotes13.5 miles15
Study Butte13.6 miles16
Castolon16.5 miles15
Santa Elena Crossing16.5 miles13
Buenos Aires20.3 miles11

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 LajitasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6474319The 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 1339481. 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.