Colfax, Washington
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Colfax-Palouse census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99111. It stands on Spring Flat Creek. The Survey maps it on the Colfax North quadrangle. 2,782 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,972 feet above sea level.
On record in Colfax
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 6 records
Florence Ferguson Houselisted 2011
Manning-Rye Covered Bridgelisted 1982
James A. Perkins Houselisted 1972
US Post Office-Colfax Mainlisted 1991- Gustave Heilsberg Farmlisted 1988
- Whitman County Librarylisted 2021
Population over time
2 figuresColfax fell from 2,805 to 2,782 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,805 | |
| 2020 | 2,782 | -23 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 12 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1910 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Colfax North quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Pullman quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
1 since 2020Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Colfax in 2020, burning about 2,685 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,685 acres | Washington State Fire Marshal's Office | MANNING RD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Colfax: 7 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Colfax | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Colfax Quarry | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Chestnut Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Cocking Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Faires Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Colfax in 7 storm reports between 1997 and 2009: 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colfax | $40,000 | strong winds knocked trees down, crushing a convertible. only minor wheat damage. |
| January 2009 | Flood | Colfax | $10,000 | no account filed |
| January 2007 | Flood | Colfax | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Colfax | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Colfax | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Flash Flood | Colfax | - | Water and mud was observed over North Palouse Road near the Golf Course. |
| May 1997 | Heavy Rain | Colfax | - | flooding |
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.
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 Colfax | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1509984 | The 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 1533329. 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.




