BlockBefore

Motoqua, Utah

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the St. George census division. It lies near East Fork Beaver Dam Wash. The Survey maps it on the Motoqua quadrangle.

Motoqua within Washington County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 14 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

64 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 64 fires within 5 miles of Motoqua between 1993 and 2019, burning about 27,724 acres in total. 52 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
Natural52
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Debris and open burning2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
6 September 1995Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeBENTLYWSH1
6 September 1995Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeBENTLYWSH2
6 September 1995Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeBENTLYWSH3
4 September 2003Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeFORREST
25 September 2002Naturalunder an acreCedar City Field OfficeREDHOLLOW
23 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsD.I. RANCH
15 September 1999Natural8.0 acresEly District OfficeHALFWAYCMP
9 August 2012Natural856 acresCedar City Field OfficeD I

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Washington County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Motoqua: 8 occurrences, 2 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Gold, Silver, Manganese, Iron, Gemstone. 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
NBMG Sample Site 788 Unnamed ProspectBarium-Barite, Gold, LeadOccurrenceBarite
Unnamed ProspectGold, Silver, Manganese, Iron, Gemstone, CopperOccurrenceJasper, Malachite
Unnamed ProspectGold, Hafnium, Iron, Manganese, SilverProspect
Unnamed ProspectGold, Lead, Barium-BariteProspect
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSand
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSand
Gravel DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrenceSand
Montoqua Gravel Deposit No.1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Montoqua Gravel Deposit No.2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence

Every working recorded in Washington County

Storms near this place

3 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Motoqua in 3 storm reports between 2012 and 2025: 3 flash 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
May 2025Flash FloodMotoqua-The Cat Claw Canyon flood/river gauge reported a rapid rise from a no-flow 0 CFS state to a peak flow of 620 CFS. Flash flood area extrapolated downstream to account for likely continued propagation of flood wave.
March 2023Flash FloodMotoqua-Persistent moderate to at times heavy rain resulted in flash flooding throughout Beaver Dam Wash. For example, the Catclaw Canyon stream gage increased from a dry no-flow state of 0 CFS to a peak flow of approximately 2923 CFS. Cameras also showed water flowing in this typically dry wash.
July 2012Flash FloodMotoqua-The Beaver Dam Wash experienced a flash flood, with flow in the wash increasing from zero to 1244 cfs.

Every storm recorded in Washington 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
Gunlock12.6 miles16
Shem14.5 miles16
Shivwits15.4 miles16
Veyo16.4 miles16
Dammeron Valley17.4 miles16
Ivins19.4 miles19
Central21.4 miles16
Santa Clara21.8 miles19

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.

Wikidata item Q122559907The 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 1437644. 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.