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Orcas, Washington

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1975. It stands in the Orcas census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98280. It lies near Oak Island. The Survey maps it on the Shaw Island quadrangle. It stands 43 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Orcas within San Juan County

On record in Orcas

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

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 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

22 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Orcas between 1992 and 2020, burning about 10 acres in total. 3 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
Debris and open burning5
Recreation and ceremony4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Natural3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Fireworks2
Other causes2

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 2019Other causesunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersDEER HARBOR
16 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersCROW VALLEY
1 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNorthwest Region-Department of Natural ResourcesCLAY FARM RD
9 August 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
6 August 1997Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
3 August 2005Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
27 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
25 August 1996Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Juan County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 19 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Orcas: 10 past producers, 9 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Feldspar. 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
Deer Harbor Feldspar DepositFeldsparOccurrence
Humphrey Head QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Mcgraw-Kittinger DepositLimestone, General, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Lopez Redi-Mix Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Shoal Bay Pit No. 2Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Biendle DepositLimestone, GeneralOccurrence
Caldwell Point DepositLimestone, GeneralOccurrence
Cliff Island DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Crane Island DepositLimestone, GeneralOccurrence

Every working recorded in San Juan County

Storms near this place

1 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Orcas in 1 storm report in 2004: 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
June 2004Thunderstorm WindOrcas$25,000Thunderstorm winds blew a tree into a cabin, knocking down a wall and damaging parts of the interior.

Every storm recorded in San Juan 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
Shaw Island1.2 miles11
West Sound2.4 miles12
Deer Harbor3.3 miles11
Dolphin4.1 miles12
Rosario5.1 miles12
Lopez5.4 miles11
Port Stanley5.5 miles13
Friday Harbor5.8 miles10

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 OrcasAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7100166The 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 1512531. 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.