BlockBefore

Sample, Texas

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Smiley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78159. The Survey maps it on the Sample quadrangle.

Sample within Gonzales County

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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.

Fires near this place

24 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Sample between 2008 and 2019, burning about 564 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 burning9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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
26 September 2009Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Service10212 FM 1681
8 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
8 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
17 August 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
20 July 2009Equipment and vehicle use20 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceKENNETH SCHOENFIELD
13 June 2008Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
13 June 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named
9 April 2008Debris and open burning5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Gonzales County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Sample: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Uranium. 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
Thomas Uranium PitUraniumProducer

Every working recorded in Gonzales County

Storms near this place

1 since 2023

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sample in 1 storm report in 2023: 1 lightning. 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
April 2023LightningSample$100,000Lightning struck an oil tank battery along Hwy 87 between Smiley and Westhoff and started a fire.

Every storm recorded in Gonzales 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
Yokum4.5 miles11
Pilgrim5.1 miles10
Smiley6.9 miles10
Cheapside7.6 miles9
Schoolland10.9 miles10
Wrightsboro10.9 miles10
Nixon13.2 miles13
Bebe14.8 miles10

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1380486. 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.