Metaline Falls, Washington
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Ione-Metaline Falls census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99153. It stands on Sullivan Creek. The Survey maps it on the Metaline Falls quadrangle. 272 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,090 feet above sea level.
On record in Metaline Falls
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
Idaho and Wash. Northern RR Bridgelisted 1982
Lewis P. Larson Houselisted 1979
Metaline Falls Schoollisted 1988
Pend Oreille Mines and Metals Buildinglisted 1997
United States Border Stationlisted 1997
Washington Hotellisted 1979
Population over time
2 figuresMetaline Falls grew from 238 to 272 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 | 238 | |
| 2020 | 272 | +34 (+14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1934 USGS Metaline quadrangle1:125000
- 1942 USGS Metaline quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Sandpoint quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Sandpoint quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Metaline Falls quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1984 USGS Colville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Metaline Falls quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
38 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Metaline Falls between 1992 and 2020, burning about 41 acres in total. 17 started naturally. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 17 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 15 September 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | LOST CREEK |
| 13 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Colville National Forest | WEREWOLF (RED FLAG) |
| 6 August 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Colville National Forest | 21 MILE |
| 4 August 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Colville National Forest | SPOT 35 |
| 31 August 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Colville National Forest | S. FORK FLUME CREEK |
| 3 August 1994 | Other causes | 1.0 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 28 August 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Colville National Forest | RIVERSIDE MINE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 100 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 100 workings within 5 miles of Metaline Falls: 40 past producers, 26 occurrences, 26 prospects, 5 producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, Silver, Silver, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bella May Mine | Zinc, Silver, Lead, Copper, Uranium | Past Producer | 1906 | |
| Bella May Mine | Zinc, Cadmium, Lead, Silver, Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Bella May, Diamond R., Polly Molly | Molybdenum, Lead, Zinc | Occurrence | Replacement | |
| Blue Bucket | Zinc, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Blue Bucket | Silver, Zinc, Lead | Occurrence | ||
| Blue Jim | Silver, Lead, Copper, Gold, Zinc, Antimony | Occurrence | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Malachite, Pyrite, Siderite, Sphalerite, Tetrahedrite | |
| Frisco - Standard | Silver, Copper, Antimony, Lead, Zinc | Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Malachite, Pyrargyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite, Stannite, Tetrahedrite | |
| Grandview Mine | Lead, Zinc, Copper, Cadmium, Silver, Uranium | Past Producer | 1924 | |
| Grandview Mine | Zinc, Lead, Silver, Cadmium | Past Producer | ||
| Hoosier | Copper, Silver, Gold | Prospect |
Storms near this place
3 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Metaline Falls in 3 storm reports between 2017 and 2020: 1 debris flow, 1 flood, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2018 | Flood | Metaline Falls | $8,000,000 | The USGS River Flow Gage at Abeni Falls Dam which controls the flow of the Pend Oreille River surpassed the Flood Flow of 95,000 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) at 2:30 PM PST on May 11th. The flow increased and passed through the Moderate Flood Flow of 115,000 CFS at 12:15 PM on May 18th. The flow continued to increase and peaked at the Moderate Flood reading of 121,000 CFS at at 5:00 AM on May 27th. The flow continued to fluctuate between 118,000 CFS and 121,000 CFS through the end of May. The flow receded to below the Flood Flow on June 6th. |
| April 2017 | Debris Flow | Metaline Falls | $200,000 | Periodic heavy rain and spring time snow melt continued to cause travel problems in Pend Oreille County through the first half of April. Numerous secondary roads were damaged or cut by small stream and field flooding and debris flows. Most notably, Flowery Trail Road which crosses a mountain range and connects the towns of Usk and Chewelah was closed due to dangerous and unstable conditions caused by a 300 yard section of hillside slowly flowing onto the road bed. |
| June 2020 | Hail | Metaline Falls | - | A member of the public reported quarter size hail on Sullivan Creek from a thunderstorm near Metaline Falls. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pend Oreille Village | 0.5 miles | 13 | |
| Metaline | 1.3 miles | 13 | |
| Ione | 8.8 miles | 14 | |
| Tiger | 12.0 miles | 14 | |
| Lost Creek | 17.6 miles | 12 | |
| Diamond City | 17.6 miles | 12 | |
| Blueslide | 21.3 miles | 12 | |
| Ruby | 23.9 miles | 12 |
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 Metaline Falls | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1507975 | 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 1523023. 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.






