South Prairie, Washington
29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Buckley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98385. It stands on Wilkeson Creek. The Survey maps it on the Buckley quadrangle. 373 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 430 feet above sea level.
On record in South Prairie
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
William Bisson Houselisted 1982
Population over time
2 figuresSouth Prairie fell from 434 to 373 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 | 434 | |
| 2020 | 373 | -61 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 29 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.
- 1897 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1900 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1942 USGS Lake Tapps quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1944 USGS Lake Tapps quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Buckley quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1993 USGS Buckley quadrangle1:24000
- 1997 USGS Buckley quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
63 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 63 fires within 5 miles of South Prairie between 1992 and 2020, burning about 79 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 16 |
| Other causes | 4 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | 156TH SREET |
| 7 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | SOUTH PRAIRIE CREEK |
| 6 September 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | CASCADIA |
| 5 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | 186TH |
| 4 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 29 September 1996 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 24 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 21 September 1994 | Other causes | 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 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of South Prairie: 14 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Flagstone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walker Quarry | Flagstone | Past Producer | ||
| Burlington Northern Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Carbon Ridge Blowdown | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Clearwest-Westfork Pit | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Road 0602 Pit 1818 | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gregg Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Ogle Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Prairie in 2 storm reports between 2008 and 2017: 1 heavy rain, 1 debris flow. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2008 | Heavy Rain | South Prairie | $800,000 | Several roads in eastern Pierce county were washed out by heavy rain. |
| March 2017 | Debris Flow | South Prairie | - | The Tacoma News Tribune reported a landslide near Buckley, WA at 239 Ave E and South Prairie Rd. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cascade Junction | 1.1 miles | 29 | |
| Prairie Ridge | 2.7 miles | 28 | |
| Burnett | 2.7 miles | 29 | |
| Rhododendron Park | 3.4 miles | 28 | |
| Ponderosa Estates | 3.4 miles | 28 | |
| Wilkeson | 3.6 miles | 26 | |
| Cedar View | 3.7 miles | 28 | |
| Buckley | 4.1 miles | 29 |
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 South Prairie | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1512391 | 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 1526307. 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.










