Ranchester, Wyoming
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Sheridan West census division. It lies in ZIP code area 82839. It stands on Fivemile Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ranchester quadrangle. 1,064 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,763 feet above sea level.
On record in Ranchester
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
- Connor Battlefieldlisted 1971
Population over time
3 figuresRanchester grew from 147 to 1,064 between 1920 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 147 | |
| 2010 | 855 | |
| 2020 | 1,064 | +209 (+24%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 15 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.
- 1895 USGS Dayton quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Dayton quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Sheridan quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Sheridan quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Sheridan quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Ranchester quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1970 USGS Burgess Junction quadrangle1:100000
- 1979 USGS Burgess Junction quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
55 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Ranchester between 1992 and 2020, burning about 194 acres in total. 2 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 | 26 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Fireworks | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | 550 H STREET |
| 31 August 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | 166 WOLF CREEK RD. |
| 29 August 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Sheridan County | 1027 BIGHORN DR |
| 25 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Sheridan County | TRUCK PULLING TRAILER W/PROBLEMS |
| 23 August 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 2 August 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 70 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 15 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
| 12 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wyoming State Forestry | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Ranchester: 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Pumice, Clay, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guernsey Stone Quarry | Pumice | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Clay | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
27 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ranchester in 27 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 16 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 heavy rain, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2019 | Flood | Ranchester | $125,000 | Several days of heavy rainfall over the Big Horn Mountains and adjacent foothills, as well as the lower elevations resulted in widespread flooding and major impacts along the foothills of Sheridan County. The State Engineers Office Water Division Office measured up to 4 inches of rain between May 26th and May 28th. The following are some of the multiple impacts that occurred across the area:|-Sheridan County Commissioners issued an Emergency Declaration.|- It was reported that Goose Creek saw stream levels rise 3 feet in 15 minutes in Kendrick Subdivision on the 28th. |-The Connor Battlefield State Historic site in Ranchester estimated cost of the damage to roads in that area of $25,000.|-Ranchester City Park was closed due to the flooding. |-Jackson Creek overtopped the road in the town of Big Horn. |-Water covered portions of Tongue Canyon Road. |-Flooding on the Little Goose resulted in the following road closures:| -Soldier Creek road 11 miles west of Sheridan| -Woodland Park Road south of Sheridan| -67 by Wolf Creek in Ranchester| -County Road 116 near Smith Creek.|-One observer reported it was the worse flooding they had seen since 1978. |-The Woodland Park Village (a trailer park of 250 homes) was severely impacted by the | flooding. Other homes in the area were under water.||On May 30th, waters receded below flood stage on all of the gauges in Sheridan County. Local emergency officials did not report any additional flooding concerns. However, some roads remained closed. |
| July 2021 | Hail | Ranchester | - | There was a lot of pea-size hail with some quarter-size. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | A truck was blown over at the Wyoming Point of Entry Station. |
| September 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | A wind gust of 60 mph was estimated in Ranchester. In addition, two inches of rain in a half hour was also estimated. |
| June 2011 | Flood | Ranchester | - | County officials and spotters reported flooding in the southern end of Ranchester on the Tongue River and Five Mile Creek. Several locations in Ranchester had high water with flooding in low lands and back yards of some homes. In addition, rises on the Tongue River caused the streams and creeks feeding into the river to rise as well. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | Spotters estimated a 70 mph wind gust resulting in 3-4 diameter Cottonwood tree branches down approximately 1 mile northwest of Sheridan. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | Estimated wind gusts of 65 mph were reported in Ranchester. |
| May 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | Numerous tree branches were reported broken. |
| June 2007 | Heavy Rain | Ranchester | - | Two inches of rain fell in one hour. |
| May 2005 | Heavy Rain | Ranchester | - | 3.66 inches of rain fell in Ranchester |
| May 2005 | Heavy Rain | Ranchester | - | 4.0 inches of rain fell 5NE Ranchester |
| May 2023 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Ranchester | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ranchester | - | 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 Ranchester | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1028743 | 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 1593162. 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.







