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Touchet, Washington

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Touchet census division. It lies in ZIP code area 99360. It stands on Touchet River. The Survey maps it on the Touchet quadrangle. 425 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 443 feet above sea level.

Touchet within Walla Walla County

Population over time

3 figures

Touchet grew from 396 to 425 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
2000396
2010421+25 (+6%)
2020425+4 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 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.

What the histories say of this town

1,037 words

1 chapter about Touchet from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.

ChapterFrom Length
An Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of WashingtonAn Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of Washington (1901)1,037 words

Fires near this place

1 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Touchet in 2011, burning under an acre 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

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
12 September 2011Naturalunder an acreUmatilla National ForestMEADOW CREEK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walla Walla County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Touchet: 9 past producers, 2 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Pumice, Stone. 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
QuarryStonePast Producer
Dry CreekPumiceOccurrence
TouchetPumiceOccurrence
Moore QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Loos PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lowden PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Touchet PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Walla Walla County

Storms near this place

9 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Touchet in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2020: 5 hail, 2 flood, 1 wildfire, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2020FloodTouchet$8,770,000Record high water levels were seen on Upper Mill Creek with extensive damage along upper Mill Creek to homes as well as roads and bridges. A number of residents had to be evacuated via helicopter or 4 wheeler. There was minimal damage along Mill Creek through Walla Walla as water was diverted through the Mill Creek Flood Project. Downstream of Walla Walla, there was damaging flooding in College Place with a bridge being washed out near Wallula Road. In Waitsburg, flood waters from both the Touchet River and Coppei Creek inundated the town as levees were damaged. 60 homes were damaged as well as numerous roads and bridges. Damage countywide is estimated at 8.77 million dollars. Walla Walla nr Touchet Flood stage is 13.0 feet. The river rose above flood stage on February 6th at 730 pm, crested at 20.26 feet on February 7th at 445 pm, then fell below flood stage on February 9, 7 am. Major flooding occurred along the Walla Walla River from the headwaters through Milton Freewater to the confluence with the Columbia River. There was extensive damage to roads, bridges and damage to levees through Milton- Freewater. There was widespread flooding of pastures from Milton Freewater to the mouth, with portions of Highway 12 covered by water.
July 2012Flash FloodTouchet$1,250,000Thunderstorms training from south southwest to north northeast over the narrow path produced an estimated 1 to 2 inches of rainfall and caused flash flooding and mud slides. A parked pickup truck was completely submerged. Over a dozen county roads were damaged.
February 2018FloodTouchet-Walla Walla river near Touchet - Flood Stage 13 feet. River rose to flood stage at 1500 PST, cresting at 13.0 feet at 1530 PST, then went below flood stage after 1600 PST. Only brief minor flooding.
May 2011HailTouchet-Hail up to 3/4 inch diameter covered the ground.
May 2011HailTouchet-Hail accompanied by very heavy rainfall.
June 2002WildfireTouchet-Lightning caused fire blackened 2,000 acres of grass and wheat.
May 2011HailTouchet-no account filed
May 2011HailTouchet-no account filed
April 1998HailTouchet-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Walla Walla 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
Gardena1.4 miles11
Lowden4.7 miles11
Reese6.2 miles13
Zangar Junction9.4 miles13
Whitman9.7 miles11
Sudbury11.0 miles11
Waiilatpo (historical)11.1 miles11
Dixie Crossing11.2 miles11

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 TouchetAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1502978The 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 1509053. 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.