La Sal, Utah
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Monticello census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84530. The Survey maps it on the La Sal East quadrangle. 348 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,978 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresLa Sal grew from 339 to 348 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 339 | |
| 2010 | 395 | +56 (+17%) |
| 2020 | 348 | -47 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 29 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 La Sal quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1954 USGS La Sal quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1954 USGS Mt Peale 1 SW quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Moab quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS La Sal quadrangle1:62500
- 1982 USGS La Sal quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1987 USGS La Sal East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 2001 USGS La Sal East quadrangle1:24000
What the histories say of this town
2,718 words1 chapter about La Sal from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.
| Chapter | From | Length |
|---|---|---|
| San Juan County, Utah | San Juan County, Utah (1910) | 2,718 words |
Fires near this place
97 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 97 fires within 5 miles of La Sal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,295 acres in total. 63 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 | 63 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Moab Field Office | CARBIDE |
| 5 September 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Moab Field Office | EAST COYOTE 2 |
| 3 September 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Manti-Lasal National Forest | LACKEY |
| 28 September 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Moab Field Office | MEYER |
| 2 September 2020 | Natural | 100 acres | Manti-Lasal National Forest | LACKEY FAN |
| 2 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Moab Field Office | EIGHTMAN |
| 14 September 2015 | Natural | under an acre | Moab Field Office | NORTH LA SAL |
| 13 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Manti-Lasal National Forest | RIDGE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 33 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 33 workings within 5 miles of La Sal: 16 past producers, 11 producers, 5 occurrences, 1 prospect. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Uranium, Vanadium, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rattlesnake Mine | Vanadium, Uranium | Occurrence | ||
| Beaver Mine Deer Creek | Uranium, Vanadium | Producer | ||
| Big Indian Mine | Copper | Past Producer | Chalcocite, Chrysocolla, Covellite, Malachite | |
| Big Indian Properties | Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Hecla Shaft | Uranium, Copper | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Uraninite | |
| Lisbon Mine & Mill | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer | 1950, 1972 | |
| Rio Algom | Uranium, Vanadium | Producer | Coffinite, Uraninite | |
| Far West Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Producer | Uraninite | |
| Firebird Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Producer | 1942, 1956 | |
| La Sal Incline | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Sal in 14 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 wildfire, 2 hail, 2 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Tornado (EF2) | La Sal | - | A fire-induced tornado occurred at the Deer Creek Fire near La Sal, Utah on July 12th. The tornado was rated an EF2 with a path of 100 yards wide and winds estimated at 122 mph, lasting approximately 12 minutes. Storm surveys indicated extensive roof damage to a home and several outbuildings were also damaged. |
| June 2024 | Hail | La Sal | - | A COOP Observer near La Sal, UT reported 1 inch hail in association with a severe thunderstorm that passed over the area on the morning of the 21st. |
| July 2021 | Debris Flow | La Sal | - | Mud and rocks flowed over La Sal Pass Road as a result of heavy rain over the Pack Creek Fire burn scar. |
| August 2021 | Debris Flow | La Sal | - | Mud, rocks and other debris flowed across La Sal Pass Road as a result of heavy rain over the Pack Creek Fire burn scar. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Hail | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Wildfire | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Wildfire | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Wildfire | La Sal | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Flood | La Sal | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old La Sal | 5.4 miles | 29 | |
| La Sal Junction | 8.3 miles | 25 | |
| Spanish Valley | 16.7 miles | 26 | |
| Monticello | 30.8 miles | 20 | |
| Ucolo | 32.6 miles | 21 | |
| Eastland | 35.6 miles | 21 | |
| Verdure | 36.7 miles | 20 | |
| Blanding | 49.0 miles | 21 |
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 La Sal | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q972244 | 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 1442376. 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.












