BlockBefore

Bluff, Utah

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Blanding census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84512. It lies near Calf Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Bluff quadrangle. 240 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,324 feet above sea level.

Bluff within San Juan County

On record in Bluff

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 7 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Bluff fell from 320 to 240 between 2000 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
2000320
2010258-62 (-19%)
2020240-18 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 22 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.

What the histories say of this town

283 words

1 chapter about Bluff from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.

ChapterFrom Length
San Juan County, UtahSan Juan County, Utah (1910)283 words

Photographs

1 photograph,

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.

Hole-in-the-Rock Trail, Running From Bluff Vicinity to Escalante, Garfield County, Bluff, San Juan County, UT
Hole-in-the-Rock Trail, Running From Bluff Vicinity to Escalante, Garfield County, Bluff, San Juan County, UT
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

14 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Bluff between 1993 and 2020, burning about 12 acres in total. 2 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony2
Natural2
Arson/incendiarism1
Debris and open burning1

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
8 September 2000Natural1.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsEVAPORATION
8 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMoab Field OfficePUMP
6 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsBLUFF
30 July 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMoab Field OfficeSAND
12 July 2018Natural1.2 acresSoutheast AreaBLUFF
10 July 1999Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMoab Field OfficeBRIDGE
8 June 1998Debris and open burning3.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsWATERMELON
7 June 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMoab Field OfficeHIGHWAY 191 MM 21

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Juan County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Bluff: 6 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Uranium, Vanadium. 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
Hole In Rock MineUranium, VanadiumPast ProducerCarnotite
Hole In the Rock MineUraniumPast ProducerSurface, Underground
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerUnconsolidated Sediments
Gravel Deposit #19038Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSurface
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerQuartzite
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Utah Dept of Highways Pit No 19038Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Juan County

Storms near this place

16 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bluff in 16 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 4 heavy rain, 4 flash flood, 2 hail, 2 flood. 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 2003Flash FloodBluff$1,000,000no account filed
August 2001Flash FloodBluff$30,000no account filed
September 2005Thunderstorm WindBluff$12,000no account filed
August 2013Flash FloodBluff$10,000Rainfall through the day, with 1.85 inches recorded between 2 pm and 3 pm, produced flash flooding from the town of Bluff to Sand Island and along Highway 191. Sand bagging was needed in town to protect structures. Minor damage was reported.
June 2020HailBluff-A severe thunderstorm produced large hail measured to be the size of ping-pong balls in Bluff.
July 2018Heavy RainBluff-Thunderstorms produced 0.88 of an inch of rain within a couple of hours. Minor flooding was reported.
August 2016Heavy RainBluff-Near Bluff 0.50 of an inch of rain fell within a 10 minute period.
September 2012Debris FlowBluff-Heavy rainfall resulted in a flow of mud and water across Highway 191 approximately 8 miles north of Bluff.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBluff-Strong thunderstorm winds blew down some old trees and broke off large branches from other trees throughout the town of Bluff.
July 2008Heavy RainBluff-Minor flooding occurred around Bluff and covered a portion of Highway 163 about 3 miles east of Bluff. A spotter reported 0.53 inches of rainfall in 45 minutes.
October 1998Heavy RainBluff-A thunderstorm produced brief heavy rain in Bluff, with 0.50 inches falling in 15 minutes. This produced some minor street flooding.
September 2005Funnel CloudBluff-no account filed
August 2003Flash FloodBluff-no account filed
September 2002FloodBluff-no account filed
September 2002FloodBluff-no account filed
September 1997HailBluff-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Juan 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
Tselakai Dezza6.3 miles20
Montezuma Creek12.3 miles20
Little Water12.5 miles20
White Mesa13.3 miles20
Red Lake Village13.5 miles19
White Rock Curve Village14.6 miles19
White Mesa Village17.7 miles19
Mexican Hat19.0 miles21

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 BluffAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q886112The 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 1425842. 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.