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Sudden Valley, Washington

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1975. It stands in the Bellingham census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98229. It stands on Rufus Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lake Whatcom quadrangle. 6,354 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 673 feet above sea level.

Sudden Valley within Whatcom County

Population over time

3 figures

Sudden Valley grew from 4,165 to 6,354 between 2000 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
20004,165
20106,441+2,276 (+55%)
20206,354-87 (-1%)

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

56 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 56 fires within 5 miles of Sudden Valley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 85 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 7 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
Recreation and ceremony12
Debris and open burning11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Arson/incendiarism7
Fireworks4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Natural3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking1
Other causes1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
7 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersBLACKBERRY YARD
7 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersMORNING BEACH
7 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
23 September 2002Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
22 September 1997Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
16 September 1998Smoking1.2 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
14 September 2014Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersPAPER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Whatcom County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Sudden Valley: 6 occurrences, 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Graphite, Bentonite. 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
Lookout Mountain Bentonite DepositBentoniteOccurrence
Anderson Creek Graphite DepositGraphiteOccurrence
Samish Lake Graphite DepositGraphiteOccurrence
Lake Whatcom Sandstone OccurrenceSilicaOccurrence
Reed LakeSilicaOccurrence
Samish Lake Sandstone OccurrenceSilicaOccurrence
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Whatcom 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
Sunnyside1.7 miles13
Agate Bay2.3 miles16
Geneva3.3 miles14
Larson Mill4.3 miles17
Blue Canyon4.6 miles13
Silver Beach4.7 miles17
Forest Ridge5.2 miles17
Lakeway5.5 miles14

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 Sudden ValleyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1508156The 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 1514482. 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.