BlockBefore

Point of Rocks, Wyoming

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Rock Springs North census division. It stands on Deadman Wash. The Survey maps it on the Point of Rocks quadrangle. 53 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,529 feet above sea level.

Point of Rocks within Sweetwater County

On record in Point of Rocks

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 within a mile 1 record

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

Point of Rocks grew from 3 to 53 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
20003
202053+50 (+1667%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 8 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

24 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Point of Rocks between 1994 and 2020, burning about 95 acres in total. 10 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
Natural10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined8
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Fireworks1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
7 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreRock Springs Field OfficeSTAGE
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreRock Springs Field OfficeJELLY
3 September 2018Fireworks1.0 acresSweetwater County138 I 80
5 August 2020Railroad operations and maintenance15 acresRock Springs Field OfficeBLACK BUTTES
4 August 1994Natural35 acresRock Springs Field OfficeBLACK
3 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreRock Springs Field OfficeJIM BRIDGER
27 August 2003Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreRock Springs Field OfficeGAS WELL
27 August 2001Natural4.0 acresRock Springs Field OfficePOWERLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sweetwater County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Point of Rocks: 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium. 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
State Highway DeptSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
UnknownUraniumOccurrence
State Highway Department ledge rock quarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
State Highway Department ledge rock quarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Sweetwater County

Storms near this place

3 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Point of Rocks in 3 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. 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
July 2023Thunderstorm WindPoint Of Rocks-no account filed
June 2004HailPoint Of Rocks-no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindPoint Of Rocks-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sweetwater 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
Thayer Junction6.7 miles8
Salt Wells10.8 miles8
South Superior11.1 miles10
Bitter Creek15.1 miles7
Monell17.1 miles7
Sweeney Ranch18.3 miles9
Winton (historical)20.7 miles11
Dines (historical)20.8 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 Point of RocksAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1953700The 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 1597462. 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.