Cowley, Wyoming
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the North Big Horn census division. It lies in ZIP code area 82420. It stands on Big Wash. The Survey maps it on the Cowley quadrangle. 762 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,990 feet above sea level.
On record in Cowley
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
Big Horn Academy Historic Districtlisted 1992
Population over time
2 figuresCowley grew from 655 to 762 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 | 655 | |
| 2020 | 762 | +107 (+16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1955 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Cody quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Cowley quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1980 USGS Powell quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
44 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 44 fires within 5 miles of Cowley between 2003 and 2020, burning about 198 acres in total. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Fireworks | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Bighorn County | 89 |
| 25 September 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 5 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Bighorn County | 70 |
| 4 August 2018 | Natural | under an acre | Bighorn County | 79 |
| 30 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Bighorn County | 94 |
| 22 August 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Bighorn County | 76 |
| 11 August 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cody Field Office | EMMA LOU |
| 10 August 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Cowley: 4 producers, 2 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Titanium-Heavy Minerals. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowley | Titanium-Heavy Minerals, Thorium, Zirconium, Iron | Occurrence | 1955 | |
| Sage Creek Mill | Clay | Producer | ||
| Gypsum Quarry No. 7 | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Uranium | Occurrence | ||
| Unknown | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Producer | ||
| Yellowtail Mine | Uranium | Producer | ||
| City Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Clark Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sand and Gravel Nichols | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cowley in 4 storm reports between 2000 and 2020: 3 hail, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cowley | - | Outflow thunderstorm winds brought wind gusts of 64 mph to Cowley and 58 mph to the Greybull airport. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Cowley | - | A trained spotter reported penny sized hail in Cowley. |
| June 2000 | Hail | Cowley | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Cowley | - | 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.
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 Cowley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1029114 | 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 1587127. 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.




