Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Zumwalt, Washington

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 04:41, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Zumwalt, Washington

[Hide this box] New to Articles for deletion (AfD)? Read these primers!

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Disputed PROD. Subject is an unpopulated place with few indirect mentions in local newspapers, let alone the rest of the web. Unclear if it even exists anymore. Sounder Bruce 22:59, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Washington-related deletion discussions. Sounder Bruce 22:59, 7 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions. Eastmain (talk • contribs) 00:01, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. ~~This sounds like a ghost town.~~ Washington state has lots of ghost towns, and Wikipedia has lots of articles about individual ghost towns. Eastmain (talk • contribs) 00:05, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - I can find no evidence that this ghost town. Topographic maps go back to the 1930s and show a rail siding with some circles labeled "storage bins". Per some 1950s newspapers results, these storage bins are a grain elevator. Can find some passing mentions in 1920s sources to a warehouse being here. Appears in an 1896 gazetter with a population of "X" (and no, the other entries don't use Roman numerals, so this is a way of saying that the site did not have a population). A source from 1919 references shipping wheat and barley on the railroad at Zumwalt. Claim above that this is a ghost town does not seem to be supported by sources. Instead, I can find no evidence of a permanent population here; between the siding, warehouse, and grain elevator this is probably a point for onloading grain onto the railroad. As a rail feature instead of a present or former community, it fails WP:GEOLAND and WP:GNG is not met. Hog Farm _Talk 00:22, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. I don't see any houses either. Agreed that this is not a ghost town, but I think there are enough references to make Zumwalt notable. Eastmain (talk • contribs) 01:08, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - this was a rail station, according to the Washington (State) Division of Mines and Geology, and there's no evidence I can find that there was a community, here: not even four houses at a crossroads. Washington Public Documents (1921) also names this a rail location. Aside from the rail station ruins, Google Maps shows a grain elevator. There are a few farms to the north and west. Liss's Atlas shows no residents, indicating a rail station only. Cram's 1902 Atlas says the same thing: Population: X. PostalHistory.com shows no records for Zumwalt in Washington, but does list a Zumwalt, Oregon, and Zumwalt, Texas. NewspaperArchive shows Zumwalt was a surprisingly popular last name in Washington State (over 1,000 results), but filtering to Garfield County, I'm finding no mention of a community. A 1959 article calls Zumwalt a siding, and there are articles talking about repairing a bridge there. If someone finds something, feel free to ping me, but I'm finding no evidence of a community, no evidence of a ghost town, no evidence of a post office, school, businesses, a cemetery, a church, or houses. When it's possible to salvage an article, we should, for the sake of the reader. There's nothing to salvage, here. Firsfron of Ronchester 01:36, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Delete No evidence whatsoever of a community here. After removing two references that don't mention Zumwalt at all, we're left with a map and two warehouse registration listings. This doesn't amount to significant coverage, and it should be noted that WP:NGEO specifically excludes maps and tables from consideration in establishing notability. –dlthewave ☎ 01:40, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Keep, of all of the similar "town" articles Spokane Ball yt has created, this one appears to be a legitimate community, since there are residences and ranches visible in satellite imagery and streetview. Waddles 🗩 🖉 15:52, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Existence of residences doesn't mean that people there or in the past considered it a cohesive community by this name though. The buildings are scattered along the length of the highway, not in any way centralized. Without and sources of substance in corroboration, there's no basis to keep. Delete Reywas92^Talk 16:03, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You can't use a map to establish notability. –dlthewave ☎ 01:53, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as a non-notable railroad siding and grain elevator, and thanks to Hog Farm and Firsfron for their very thorough analyses. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 17:08, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.