Royal City, Washington
12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1986. It stands in the Mattawa-Royal City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99357. The Survey maps it on the Royal City quadrangle. 1,776 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,063 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresRoyal City fell from 2,140 to 1,776 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 | 2,140 | |
| 2020 | 1,776 | -364 (-17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 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.
- 1911 USGS Red Rock quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Smyrna quadrangle1:62500
- 1951 USGS Smyrna quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Walla Walla quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Walla Walla quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Smyrna quadrangle1:62500
- 1979 USGS Priest Rapids quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Royal City quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
20 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Royal City between 1999 and 2020, burning about 2,194 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 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 | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 August 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | BOXPLANT |
| 5 July 2006 | Natural | 530 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | RED ROCK |
| 30 July 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | BEVBURK-26 |
| 24 July 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 40 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | SMYRNA |
| 15 July 2007 | Natural | 1,300 acres | Spokane District | SMYRNA |
| 14 July 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mid Columbia National Wildlife Refuge Complex | E-SW |
| 1 July 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | STUKNMUD |
| 26 June 2007 | Other causes | 1.0 acres | Columbia National Wildlife Refuge | APPLE CRATE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Royal City: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Borrow Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Nehls Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Royal City in 9 storm reports between 2000 and 2015: 3 hail, 2 funnel cloud, 2 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. 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 2005 | Hail | Royal City | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal City | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Heavy Rain | Royal City | - | A member of the public reported water and debris across highway 262 near the Mardon resort at the south end of Potholes Reservoir which is approximately 15 miles east of Royal City, WA. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Royal City | - | A member of the public reported 0.75 inch hail 11 miles east northeast of Royal City, WA. |
| June 2013 | Heavy Rain | Royal City | - | Moderate to locally heavy rain of 0.25 to 0.50 inches resulted in cherry damage across portions of southern Grant County. |
| July 2012 | Funnel Cloud | Royal City | - | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Flash Flood | Royal City | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Royal City | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Funnel Cloud | Royal City | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smyrna | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Jericho | 9.7 miles | 16 | |
| Low Gap | 10.4 miles | 16 | |
| Corfu | 11.0 miles | 11 | |
| Marine View | 15.8 miles | 11 | |
| Schwana | 16.5 miles | 16 | |
| Beverly | 16.6 miles | 16 | |
| Wanapum Village | 17.0 miles | 16 |
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 Royal City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2601009 | 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 1512626. 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.







