BlockBefore

Palouse, Washington

13 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 99161. The Survey maps it on the Palouse quadrangle. 1,015 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,434 feet above sea level.

Palouse within Whitman County

On record in Palouse

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Palouse grew from 998 to 1,015 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
2010998
20201,015+17 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 13 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

2 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Palouse in 2019, burning about 2 acres in total. 1 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
Natural1
Debris and open burning1

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
5 July 2019Naturalunder an acreIdaho Department of LandsRUDD
3 May 2019Debris and open burning1.6 acresIdaho Department of LandsCHANEY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Whitman County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Palouse: 11 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Fire Clay (Refractory), Silica. 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
Duffield Creek QuarryStone, DimensionPast Producer
PalouseClayPast Producer
RingoGemstoneOccurrence
Ringo HillsSilicaOccurrence
Cox PitFire Clay (Refractory)Past Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
RingoFire Clay (Refractory)Past Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Gravel PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Whitman County

Storms near this place

5 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Palouse in 5 storm reports between 2007 and 2025: 3 flood, 1 lightning, 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
May 2020Thunderstorm WindPalouse$30,000Strong thunderstorm winds damaged one vehicle, homes, and a local park. A trained spotter reported that the winds downed trees which caused the damage in Palouse, Washington. There were no known injuries.
February 2025FloodPalouse$5,000An estimated 3 feet of water in basement for several buildings along the Palouse River.
April 2012FloodPalouse$5,000Hayton Green Park in Palouse was flooded as well as the residence at 415 West Main Street near the park. Flooding was also observed up to the base of the house in the neighboring property. Damage was estimated.
August 2007LightningPalouse$1,000no account filed
June 2022FloodPalouse-An estimated 2 to 3 feet of flooding at the Lions Club Park from the Palouse River.

Every storm recorded in Whitman 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
Lairds0.7 miles13
Ringo2.8 miles13
Grinnell3.6 miles13
Ladow5.2 miles13
Fallon5.6 miles13
Madson6.2 miles13
Garfield7.6 miles9
Whelan9.0 miles13

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 PalouseAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1501870The 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 1531058. 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.