BlockBefore

Alta, Utah

26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Cottonwood census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84092. It lies near Collins Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Dromedary Peak quadrangle. 228 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,563 feet above sea level.

Alta within Salt Lake County

On record in Alta

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Alta fell from 383 to 228 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.

YearPeople Change
2010383
2020228-155 (-40%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 26 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

103 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 103 fires within 5 miles of Alta between 1992 and 2020, burning about 39 acres in total. 38 started naturally. 1 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
Recreation and ceremony42
Natural38
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking2
Debris and open burning1
Arson/incendiarism1

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 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestMARY
9 September 2006Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestRED PINE
7 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestREDMAN
4 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestWHITE PINE LAKE
4 September 2007Naturalunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestALBION BASIN
4 September 1996Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestMINERAL BASIN
30 September 1999Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestCOAL PIT
3 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUinta-Wasatch-Cache National ForestHOGUM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Salt Lake County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 299 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 299 workings within 5 miles of Alta: 180 past producers, 70 occurrences, 27 producers, 21 prospects. 27 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Silver, Silver, Lead, Lead, Copper. 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
Alta Consolidated MineLead, Silver, Copper, Gold, IronPast Producer1875, 1919
Alta Consolidated MineZinc, Silver, Molybdenum, Lead, Gold, CopperPast Producer
Alta Superior TunnelCopper, Molybdenum, SilverOccurrenceUnknown
American ForkGold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc, TungstenOccurrence
American ProspectLead, Zinc, CopperProspect
American TunnelCopper, Silver, Gold, Lead, ManganesePast Producer1875, 1918
Bay State MineSilver, Lead, Antimony, Zinc, Barium-BaritePast ProducerBarite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Bay State MineLead, Silver, Antimony, Barium-Barite, ZincOccurrence1912, 1915, 1919
Bay State MineLead, Zinc, Silver, Antimony, Barium-BaritePast Producer
Big and Little Cottonwood DistrictsSilver, Lead, Cobalt, Gold, ZincPast Producer1864

Every working recorded in Salt Lake County

Storms near this place

4 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alta in 4 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 3 flash 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
August 2023Flash FloodAlta$150,000At Alta Lodge, along state Route 210, flooding left mud and debris on the road, with cars stuck and some homes flooded.
July 2013Flash FloodAlta$80,000Heavy rain during the overnight hours caused flash flooding in Little Cottonwood Canyon, resulting in rockslides and mudslides onto the main road along the canyon. The flood deposited debris onto the road, including trees, branches, and rocks. This debris was spread over a large area of the road, from 4 miles down the canyon from Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. Twelve hours of cleanup was necessary before the road was reopened to automobile traffic. The road was damaged in some locations, particularly along the shoulder, but the integrity of the main roadway was not compromised. The Utah Department of Transportation estimated that the cost of the road repairs would be approximately $80,000.
July 2013Flash FloodAlta$40,000Another flash flood and rockslide occurred in Little Cottonwood Canyon, less than 24 hours after the first event earlier in the day. In this occurrence, debris blocked a drainage along the road, adding to the water and mud that flowed across the road. Large rocks rolled onto the main roadway, some as large as basketballs. Some additional road damage occurred due to the rocks and flowing water.
September 2022Thunderstorm WindAlta-The Cardiff Peak weather station recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph as a result of outflow winds from a nearby thunderstorm moving over the site.

Every storm recorded in Salt Lake 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
Brighton3.1 miles24
Silver Fork3.2 miles26
Wasatch Resort6.6 miles25
Cottonwood Heights9.4 miles25
Knudsens Corner9.8 miles25
Little Cottonwood Creek Valley10.2 miles25
Mount Aire10.4 miles26
Mount Olympus10.4 miles25

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 AltaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q116129The 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 1437483. 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.