Jensen, Utah
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Vernal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84035. It stands on Cliff Creek. The Survey maps it on the Jensen quadrangle. 372 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,760 feet above sea level.
On record in Jensen
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records
- Jensen Bridge, Spanning Green River at Town of Jensen, Jensenfederal building survey, 21 photographs
- Quarry Visitor Center, U.S. Highway 40, 8 miles north of Jensen, Jensenfederal building survey, 42 photographs
Population over time
2 figuresJensen fell from 412 to 372 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 | 412 | |
| 2020 | 372 | -40 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 19 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.
- 1885 USGS Ashley quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1907 USGS Jensen quadrangle1:125000
- 1910 USGS Jensen quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1954 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Jensen quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1980 USGS Vernal quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Photographs
2 photographs,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.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fires near this place
59 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Jensen between 1992 and 2020, burning about 732 acres in total. 11 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/undetermined | 20 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Natural | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Utah Division Forestry Fire State Lands | BASCOM |
| 6 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Vernal Field Office | HAPPYTOUR1 |
| 2 September 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Vernal Field Office | HOT SPRINGS |
| 16 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Utah Division Forestry Fire State Lands | JENSEN HILLS |
| 14 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Vernal Field Office | ROADSIDE |
| 8 August 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Vernal Field Office | MM 160 |
| 5 August 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Vernal Field Office | BOURDETTE DRAW |
| 3 August 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Uintah and Ouray Agency | COX'S CORNER |
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Jensen: 10 past producers, 5 producers, 1 occurrence. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Platinum. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jensen | Gold, Platinum | Occurrence | Stream Placer | |
| Gold Deposits | Gold | Past Producer | Placer | |
| Ashley Creek Sandpits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Ashley Creek Sandpits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Cemetary Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Cemetary Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| East Jensen Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| East Jensen Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Escalante Ranch Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Unconsolidated Sediments | |
| Jensen Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Jensen in 8 storm reports between 1999 and 2020: 4 thunderstorm wind, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2011 | Flood | Jensen | $50,000 | Heavy runoff from record snowpack kept rivers and creeks across Unitah County running at elevated to over bankfull conditions through much of June. ||The Green River exceeded flood stage on June 1st at the Jensen river gage, briefly fell below this mark between the 2nd and the 3rd, and then returned to at least a minor flood stage through the end of the month. At it's peak, the Green River at Jensen rose to a moderate flood stage level from June 9th through June 20th. During these high flows, low land flooding was reported with some damage to irrigation equipment along the river banks. Oil and gas drilling had to be halted along the river due to the impact of the high water levels. Utah Highway 88 and Chipeta Grove Road was closed for over 2 weeks near Ouray. Up to a foot of water over Highway 88 was reported with 3 to 5 feet of water inundating Chipeta Creek Road. One residence near Ouray had to be evacuated due to encroaching flood water and another house had restricted access by the flood waters. One death was attributed to the increased flows when a kayak overturned and the kayaker could not be rescued. ||As temperatures continued to climb so did area rivers draining from the Eastern Uinta Mountains. Areal advisories and warnings were issued for much of the month of June for the Duchesne, White, White Rocks and Uinta rivers. These statements also covered may local creeks and streams that were out of their banks. The largest impact was to agricultural interests near these waterways with lowland pasture, farmland and isolated structures becoming inundated with water. Livestock and equipment had to be moved away from the flooded areas. A drinking water line that supplies areas of Unitah County had to be repaired from high water damage along the Duchesne River. Several mitigation projects needed to be done along the Uinta and White Rocks rivers and water crossed many secondary roads along the Unita River. |
| July 2011 | Flood | Jensen | $50,000 | The main stem of the Green River remained under flood conditions through July 4th, followed by lowering water levels through July 13th and included the stretch of the river from the confluence with the Yampa to near Ouray, Utah. The main impacts to the high flow was to agricultural interests due to damage of irrigation equipment and the inundation of ranch and pasture land. Oil and gas drilling operations were also negatively impacted by the high flows through early July. Smaller rivers and creeks continued to run above bankfull conditions through around July 9th, though the addition of rainfall in the middle of the month kept these waterways running high through late July. Again, the main impact was to pasture and ranch land near these rivers. |
| June 2009 | Hail | Jensen | $20,000 | Golf ball size hail struck an area of US Highway 40 southeast of Jensen. Some vehicles and camper trailers sustained damage. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Jensen | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Jensen | - | A peak wind gust of 74 mph was measured by the Diamond Rim automated weather station. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Jensen | - | A high-based thunderstorm produced strong outflow winds. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Jensen | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Jensen | - | 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.
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 Jensen | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q260276 | 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 1429145. 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.







