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
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
Orcas Hotellisted 1982
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 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.
- 1943 USGS Orcas Island quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Orcas Island quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Victoria quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1973 USGS Shaw Island quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Bellingham quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
22 since 1992Regional 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 burning | 5 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Other causes | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2019 | Other causes | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | DEER HARBOR |
| 16 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | CROW VALLEY |
| 1 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Northwest Region-Department of Natural Resources | CLAY FARM RD |
| 9 August 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 6 August 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 3 August 2005 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 27 August 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 25 August 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Harbor Feldspar Deposit | Feldspar | Occurrence | ||
| Humphrey Head Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Mcgraw-Kittinger Deposit | Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Lopez Redi-Mix Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Shoal Bay Pit No. 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Biendle Deposit | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Caldwell Point Deposit | Limestone, General | Occurrence | ||
| Cliff Island Deposit | Limestone, General | Past Producer | ||
| Crane Island Deposit | Limestone, General | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
1 since 2004Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Orcas | $25,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a tree into a cabin, knocking down a wall and damaging parts of the interior. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shaw Island | 1.2 miles | 11 | |
| West Sound | 2.4 miles | 12 | |
| Deer Harbor | 3.3 miles | 11 | |
| Dolphin | 4.1 miles | 12 | |
| Rosario | 5.1 miles | 12 | |
| Lopez | 5.4 miles | 11 | |
| Port Stanley | 5.5 miles | 13 | |
| Friday Harbor | 5.8 miles | 10 |
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 Orcas | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7100166 | 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 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.




