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Big Lake, Washington

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Lake Cavanaugh census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98274. It lies near Walker Valley. The Survey maps it on the Sedro-Woolley South quadrangle. 2,980 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 92 feet above sea level.

Big Lake within Skagit County

Population over time

3 figures

Big Lake grew from 1,153 to 2,980 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
20001,153
20101,835+682 (+59%)
20202,980+1,145 (+62%)

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.

Fires near this place

71 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 71 fires within 5 miles of Big Lake between 1992 and 2020, burning about 47 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 8 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
Recreation and ceremony29
Debris and open burning13
Fireworks10
Arson/incendiarism8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1

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
8 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersEQUINOX
5 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersFIRE MOUNTAIN
3 September 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersROCKHOUND 4
3 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
19 September 1992Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
12 September 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersJANICKI ROAD GYPSY
7 August 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersROCKHOUND #2
5 August 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersROCKHOUND PIT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Skagit County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 61 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 61 workings within 5 miles of Big Lake: 20 occurrences, 15 unknowns, 15 producers, 9 past producers. 15 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Nickel, Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Big LakeGraphite, ChromiumOccurrence
Clear Lake MillTalc-SoapstonePast Producer
Cornelius Magnesite,Nickel-Gold DepMagnesite, Nickel, GoldProspect
Cultus MountainNickel, Chromium, Arsenic, SulfurOccurrenceOrpiment, Pyrite, Realgar
Mount VernonChromium, Nickel, GoldOccurrence
Mount VernonNickel, Gold, MagnesiteOccurrence
Mount Vernon DepositNickel, Gold, Silver, ChromiumProspect1936
Nookachamp CreekDiatomiteOccurrence
Nookachamps CreekNickel, ArsenicOccurrenceUnknown
QuarryStoneUnknown

Every working recorded in Skagit 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
Montborne1.8 miles16
Baker Heights2.3 miles21
Clear Lake4.3 miles16
Mount Vernon5.1 miles21
Cedardale5.3 miles19
McMurray6.0 miles15
Lake McMurray6.1 miles15
Sterling6.5 miles21

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 Big LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1509489The 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 1510824. 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.