Study Butte, Texas
16 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 Study Butte. The Survey maps it on the Terlingua quadrangle. 200 people lived here at the 2020 count.
Population over time
2 figuresStudy Butte fell from 233 to 200 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 233 | |
| 2020 | 200 | -33 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1903 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:125000
- 1904 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1959 USGS Emory Peak quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1965 USGS Emory Peak quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Terlingua quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1985 USGS Chisos Mountains quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
5 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Study Butte between 1992 and 2009, burning about 19 acres in total. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 June 1993 | Smoking | under an acre | Big Bend National Park | BOUNDARY |
| 17 May 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Big Bend National Park | DOGIE |
| 22 April 2009 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GATE 3 |
| 13 April 1992 | Natural | under an acre | Big Bend National Park | LUJAN |
| 23 January 2008 | Natural | 15 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Study Butte: 3 occurrences, 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Mercury. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Prospects | Mercury | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Study Butte Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1902, 1903, 1972 | |
| Two-Forty-Eight Mine | Mercury | Past Producer | 1902, 1926, 1945 | |
| Unnamed Prospect | Mercury | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Unnamed Prospects | Mercury | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
29 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Study Butte in 29 storm reports between 1997 and 2022: 16 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood. The reports record 2 injuries. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1997 | Hail | Study Butte | 2 hurt, $10,000 | North of where the RFD winds caused damage, hail up to softball size smashed car windshields and pummelled a couple of houses. One gentleman, who was attempting to close a window, was injured when hail broke the window and caused several facial lacerations. He was taken by private vehicle to the Alpine Hospital. A second man suffered minor cuts on his legs. |
| August 2022 | Flash Flood | Study Butte | $10,000 | Heavy rain resulted in flash flooding in Brewster County. Route 16 and Old Maverick from the Maverick Entrance were closed due to the flooding. Rocks up to bowling ball sized were being removed. A couple of cars were stalled. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | $10,000 | Severe thunderstorm winds blew several roofs off of outbuildings and rolled a recreational vehicle in the Study Butte/Terlingua Ranch area. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | $5,000 | A large water tank was blown over by severe thunderstorm winds near the Terlingua Ranch Lodge east of State Highway 118. |
| August 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | $3,000 | A wet microburst destroyed two cab-over pickup truck trailers. One trailer was thrown over utility lines into an adjacent yard while the other trailer was thrown into a utility pole. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | $2,000 | A thunderstorm moved across Brewster County and produced wind damage near Terlingua. Two power poles were reported to have been knocked down by wind on Highway 118 and Farm to Market Road 170. The winds were estimated to be 80+ mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate. |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | $1,000 | Minor roof damage rsulted from thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | - | A thunderstorm moved across Brewster County and produced 50 to 60 mph wind gusts at the motel in Study Butte. No damage was reported. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | - | A thunderstorm moved over Brewster County and produced 70 mph winds three miles southeast of Study Butte. |
| May 2007 | Hail | Study Butte | - | Golfball sized hail fell at Terlingua High School. |
| July 2004 | Flash Flood | Study Butte | - | During the mid morning hours Sunday, infrared satellite imagery depicted rapid cooling of cloud top temperatures over the southern Big Bend as thunderstorm activity increased. This activity resulted in flash flooding across portions of the national and state parks. State Route 170 was inundated by high water at several locations when Terlingua Creek and Long Draw flooded near Study Butte. |
| July 2004 | Flash Flood | Study Butte | - | The National Park Service and the local media reported that flash flooding along Alamo Creek resulted in flowing water that inundated State Route 170 east of Study Butte. In addition, flash flooding of low lying areas resulted in hazardous driving conditions along State Highway 118 north of the city. |
| September 2004 | Hail | Study Butte | - | Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms erupted over the mountainous terrain of southwest Texas during the afternoon hours of the 25th. The National Park Service reported quarter size hail near Study Butte. |
| July 2002 | Flash Flood | Study Butte | - | Heavy rains caused Alamito Creek to wash over Old Maverick Road on the west side of the Big Bend National Park. |
| April 1999 | Hail | Study Butte | - | Single cell severe crossing Terlingua Ranch. |
| June 1999 | Hail | Study Butte | - | Strong cell in a large area of precipitation that briefly produced dime-size hail. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Study Butte | - | Outflow on the south edge of a thunderstorm peeled half the roof off a house. Power was knocked out as well over a large area until 10:30 the next morning. |
| June 1997 | Hail | Study Butte | - | Golfball size hail fell on the northern sections of Terlingua Ranch. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2015 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2012 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| April 2002 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Study Butte | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terlingua | 4.5 miles | 16 | |
| Lunas | 7.1 miles | 15 | |
| Terlingua Abaja | 9.5 miles | 15 | |
| Onion Spring | 11.9 miles | 11 | |
| Castolon | 12.8 miles | 15 | |
| Santa Elena Crossing | 13.6 miles | 13 | |
| Lajitas | 13.6 miles | 17 | |
| Basin Junction | 14.6 miles | 13 |
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 Study Butte | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q12960051 | The 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 2034876. 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.





