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Montezuma Creek, Utah

20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Casa del Eco Mesa-White Mesa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84534. It stands on Montezuma Creek. The Survey maps it on the Montezuma Creek quadrangle. 284 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,416 feet above sea level.

Montezuma Creek within San Juan County

Population over time

3 figures

Montezuma Creek fell from 507 to 284 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
2000507
2010335-172 (-34%)
2020284-51 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 20 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

12 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Montezuma Creek between 1995 and 2018, burning about 305 acres in total. 2 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
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Natural2
Recreation and ceremony1

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
4 July 1998Debris and open burning244 acresMoab Field OfficeMONTEZUMA
4 July 1997Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsFRED JOHNSON
27 July 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementMONTEZUMA
14 July 2005Natural1.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsRESOLUTE
13 July 2017Debris and open burning3.0 acresNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementMONTEZUMA CREEK 2
10 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreNavajo Region Fire and Aviation ManagementMONTEZUMA CREEK
7 June 1995Naturalunder an acreMoab Field OfficeCOYOTE
27 May 1997Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsNTUA WATERLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Juan County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Montezuma Creek: 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerQuartzite, Sandstone
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel Deposit #19035Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducerQuartzite, Sandstone
Utah Dept of Highways Pit No 19035Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in San Juan County

Storms near this place

5 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Montezuma Creek in 5 storm reports between 2013 and 2025: 2 tornado, 1 debris flow, 1 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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 2013HailMontezuma Creek$20,000Golf ball sized hail broke windows and windshields, among other damage, along Red Mesa Road.
September 2025Tornado (EF2)Montezuma Creek-The second tornado prompted a damage survey conducted by local emergency|management and Navajo Nation emergency management, along with local law enforcement. The data from the survey was relayed to the National Weather Service: storm damage was concentrated on an area centered near 37.33071N / 109.3259W and included; a home completely destroyed, two (2) 800-gallon water barrels were missing, a three-bedroom home was completely destroyed, a sheep corral and barn were destroyed, two (2) horse trailers were damaged, a cow corral, along with damage to three (3) vehicles.
September 2025Tornado (EFU)Montezuma Creek-The first, of the two tornadoes, was short lived as noted by a resident's video footage|narration, along with information from local emergency management and law|enforcement.
July 2018Heavy RainMontezuma Creek-A minor debris flow occurred over SR 162, approximately 5 miles west-northwest of Montezuma Creek. Traffic was not impacted. Radar estimates show half an inch to an inch of rain fell from thunderstorms in the area around that time.
January 2013Debris FlowMontezuma Creek-Local law enforcement officers reported boulders and water over the roadway along highway 262 between Aneth and Montezuma Creek. These slides were the result of heavy rainfall in the area.

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
White Rock Curve Village4.3 miles19
Red Lake Village5.0 miles19
Aneth8.0 miles18
White Mesa Village9.6 miles19
Bluff12.3 miles22
White Mesa15.6 miles20
Tselakai Dezza15.8 miles20
Little Water16.8 miles20

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 Montezuma CreekAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2337149The 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 1430435. 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.