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Chewelah, Washington

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1927 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Chewelah census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99109. It stands on North Fork Chewelah Creek. The Survey maps it on the Chewelah quadrangle. 2,470 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,667 feet above sea level.

Chewelah within Stevens County

On record in Chewelah

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Chewelah fell from 2,607 to 2,470 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
20102,607
20202,470-137 (-5%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 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

130 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 130 fires within 5 miles of Chewelah between 1992 and 2020, burning about 187 acres in total. 28 started naturally. 1 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 burning37
Natural28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined27
Recreation and ceremony9
Other causes8
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking2
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism1

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 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersHORSESHOE LAKE
6 September 1998Recreation and ceremony3.5 acresLittle Pend Oreille National Wildlife RefugeWEINER
6 September 1998Natural5.0 acresColville National ForestINCIDENT 136
6 September 1993Debris and open burning1.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
28 September 2009Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersSAND CANYON
23 September 2014Naturalunder an acreColville National ForestDEVILS CAN
21 September 1992Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
21 September 1992Railroad operations and maintenance1.1 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stevens County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 84 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 84 workings within 5 miles of Chewelah: 32 occurrences, 22 prospects, 15 past producers, 8 producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead. 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
BelcherCopper, Silver, Gold, LeadProspect
Chewelah EagleDolomite, Limestone, DimensionProducer
Chewelah StandardCopper, Silver, Gold, MolybdenumOccurrence
Chewelah StandardCopper, Silver, Molybdenum, GoldPast Producer
ChintoCopper, Silver, Gold, Zinc, Arsenic, AntimonyOccurrenceChalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite, Tetrahedrite
ChintoCopper, Silver, GoldPast Producer
Copper QueenCopper, Gold, Lead, SilverPast Producer
EagleSilver, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Molybdenum, CopperOccurrence
EagleSilver, Lead, Gold, Copper, ZincProspect
Fibco, IncStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Stevens County

Storms near this place

10 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chewelah in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 3 hail, 3 flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 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 1998Flash FloodChewelah$50,000Roads flooded in and around Chewelah
January 2006FloodChewelah$20,000Heavy rains over the past week flooded all of the classrooms and the school library on the east end of the Chewelah High School causing 20,000 dollars worth of damage.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindChewelah$10,000Collapsing thunderstorms caused downed tree limbs and numerous power outages near Chewelah and areas to the southwest. Estimated over 2000 people were without power. Time estimated from radar. No observed gusts were recorded.
July 2022LightningChewelah$5,000Lightning severely damaged several power poles, downed wires, and ignited a fire on a tree in Chewelah. Time estimated based on dispatch reports and radar.
September 2009Thunderstorm WindChewelah$2,000Neighbors reported roof damage from strong winds associated with a thunderstorm.
May 2011FloodChewelah$1,000Chewelah Creek flowed out of its banks on May 26th flooding portions of Highway 395, Lincoln Street, and Chewelah City Park. Water had dropped significantly by the |evening of May 28th with only some residual standing water on Lincoln Street. Damage estimates were only for the park and playground equipment.
May 2023HailChewelah-Report was observed near Chewelah.
May 2011FloodChewelah-Chewelah Creek rose to bank level on May 12th resulting in portions of Chewelah Park being inundated with water next to the creek. By May 16th, the creek had risen considerably out of its banks with flooding observed over Lincoln Avenue south of the park forcing its closure. The creek continued to rise through May 17th at which time water began flowing over state route 395 between mile post 206.69 and 207.81 forcing its closure as well. Flood waters approached businesses next to the park, but did not appear to make it inside any buildings.
May 1997HailChewelah-sheriff reports 1 inch hail
June 1996HailChewelah-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stevens 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
Cozy Nook3.3 miles14
Fairview6.0 miles14
Bluecreek6.3 miles11
Waits7.0 miles9
Valley7.0 miles11
Addy8.5 miles11
Kulzer8.7 miles11
Bingville8.8 miles15

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 ChewelahAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1515809The 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 1517676. 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.