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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.

Ranchester within Sheridan County

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

Population over time

3 figures

Ranchester 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.

YearPeople Change
1920147
2010855
20201,064+209 (+24%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 15 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

55 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined26
Debris and open burning17
Fireworks5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Natural2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
23 September 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresWyoming State Forestry550 H STREET
31 August 2014Debris and open burning1.0 acresWyoming State Forestry166 WOLF CREEK RD.
29 August 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresSheridan County1027 BIGHORN DR
25 August 2020Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSheridan CountyTRUCK PULLING TRAILER W/PROBLEMS
23 August 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWyoming State Forestrynot named
2 August 2009Railroad operations and maintenance70 acresWyoming State Forestrynot named
15 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWyoming State Forestrynot named
12 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWyoming State Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Sheridan County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Guernsey Stone QuarryPumiceProducer
UnknownClayProducer
UnknownStoneOccurrence

Every working recorded in Sheridan County

Storms near this place

27 since 1996

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2019FloodRanchester$125,000Several 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 2021HailRanchester-There was a lot of pea-size hail with some quarter-size.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindRanchester-A truck was blown over at the Wyoming Point of Entry Station.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindRanchester-A wind gust of 60 mph was estimated in Ranchester. In addition, two inches of rain in a half hour was also estimated.
June 2011FloodRanchester-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 2009Thunderstorm WindRanchester-Spotters estimated a 70 mph wind gust resulting in 3-4 diameter Cottonwood tree branches down approximately 1 mile northwest of Sheridan.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindRanchester-Estimated wind gusts of 65 mph were reported in Ranchester.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindRanchester-Numerous tree branches were reported broken.
June 2007Heavy RainRanchester-Two inches of rain fell in one hour.
May 2005Heavy RainRanchester-3.66 inches of rain fell in Ranchester
May 2005Heavy RainRanchester-4.0 inches of rain fell 5NE Ranchester
May 2023HailRanchester-no account filed
July 2021HailRanchester-no account filed
July 2021HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2018HailRanchester-no account filed
May 2014HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2014HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2010HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2010HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2008HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2008HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2004HailRanchester-no account filed
August 2002HailRanchester-no account filed
July 2001HailRanchester-no account filed
July 2001HailRanchester-no account filed
June 2000HailRanchester-no account filed
June 1996Thunderstorm WindRanchester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sheridan 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
Dayton5.7 miles15
Monarch6.8 miles15
Kleenburn8.0 miles15
Acme9.5 miles11
Parkman9.6 miles15
Wolf10.3 miles15
Beckton11.2 miles17
Sheridan13.4 miles13

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 RanchesterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1028743The 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.