BlockBefore

Sterling, Utah

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Ephraim-Manti census division. It lies in ZIP code area 84665. It lies near Snows Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Sterling quadrangle. 274 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,574 feet above sea level.

Sterling within Sanpete County

Population over time

2 figures

Sterling grew from 262 to 274 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.

YearPeople Change
2010262
2020274+12 (+5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 16 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.

Photographs

1 photograph, 2022

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.

Welcome signs with outdoor themes dominate the decorations outside a modest home in the little town of Sterling in south-central Utah
Welcome signs with outdoor themes dominate the decorations outside a modest home in the little town of Sterling in south-central Utah
Highsmith, Carol M, 2022. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

60 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of Sterling between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,900 acres in total. 19 started naturally. 4 were 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
Natural19
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Debris and open burning7
Recreation and ceremony5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Arson/incendiarism4
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Firearms and explosives 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 1993Naturalunder an acreManti-Lasal National Forestnot named
4 September 2007Natural1.5 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsWEST ANTALOPE
4 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsPALASADE
26 September 2020Firearms and explosives use2.0 acresCentral AreaOUTSIDE THE BASEMENT
21 September 2000Naturalunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsBJERREGAARD
17 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresUtah Division Forestry Fire State Landsnot named
16 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsPALISADES 2
14 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreUtah Division Forestry Fire State LandsOLD BASEMENT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sanpete County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 39 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 39 workings within 5 miles of Sterling: 27 past producers, 10 occurrences, 1 producer, 1 unknown. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Stone, Dimension. 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
Cotton #1 & Hot SpotUraniumUnknown
Gunnison Res. Limestone ProspectLimestone, GeneralOccurrenceLimestone
Gunnison Res.Limestone ProspectLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Nine Mile Stone QuarryStonePast Producer
9 - Mile Stone QuarryStone, DimensionPast ProducerLimestone
Gunnison Sec. 35 QuarryStone, DimensionPast ProducerCalcite
Mayfield Gypsum DepositGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrence
Mayfield Gypsum DepositGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Clay ProspectClayPast ProducerClay
Clay ProspectClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Sanpete County

Storms near this place

1 since 2024

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sterling in 1 storm report in 2024: 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
July 2024Thunderstorm WindSterling-The Palisade Lake mesonet station recorded a wind gust of 62 mph as a result of outflow winds associated with a nearby cluster of showers and thunderstorms moving through the area.

Every storm recorded in Sanpete 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
Christianburg4.0 miles15
Mayfield5.6 miles16
Manti5.9 miles15
Gunnison7.2 miles15
Spearmint8.2 miles15
Centerfield8.2 miles15
Fayette9.0 miles15
Manti Canyon Summer Homes10.0 miles16

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 SterlingAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q482691The 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 1446134. 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.