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Balch Camp, California

26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1922 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Sierra census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93667. It stands on Dinkey Creek. The Survey maps it on the Patterson Mountain quadrangle. It stands 1,273 feet above sea level.

Balch Camp within Fresno County

Then and now

1922 to 2004

The same ground, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Balch Camp, surveyed 2004
Topographic sheet of Balch Camp, surveyed 1922

Compare 1922 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 26 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

30 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Balch Camp between 1992 and 2019, burning about 729 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 1 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
Natural15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Recreation and ceremony4
Equipment and vehicle use2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
4 September 1998Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestPATT
3 September 2003Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestBLACK ROCK
23 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestI ROCK
23 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestBIG
21 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestROSS
14 September 2011Naturalunder an acreSierra National ForestLOUSY
1 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undetermined595 acresSierra National ForestSECATA
9 August 2005Power generation/transmission/distribution35 acresSierra National ForestBLACK ROCK

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fresno County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Balch Camp: 5 past producers, 5 occurrences, 4 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Tungsten, Silver, Gold, Chromium. 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
RuthSilver, GoldUnknown
Unnamed LocationChromiumOccurrence
Balch ClaimsTungstenPast ProducerScheelite
Blue StarTungstenUnknown
Hilltop MineTungstenUnknown
Kings River TungstenTungstenPast Producer
Kings River TungstenTungstenPast Producer
Kings River Tungsten MineTungstenPast ProducerScheelite
KingsrowTungstenOccurrence
Mc Bride TungstenTungstenOccurrence

Every working recorded in Fresno County

Storms near this place

4 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Balch Camp in 4 storm reports between 2003 and 2019: 3 heavy rain, 1 funnel cloud. 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
February 2019Funnel CloudBalch Camp-Reports and pictures posted on Facebook of a rotating and lowering funnel cloud west of Balch Camp. A tornado warning had been previously issued on this storm.
December 2014Heavy RainBalch Camp-Mesonet station Wishon Dam /WSHC1/ rainfall 1.83 inches.
February 2010Heavy RainBalch Camp-Twenty four hour storm rainfall was 1.53 inches at Wishon Dam.
November 2003Heavy RainBalch Camp-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fresno 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
Rodgers Crossing2.8 miles25
Crabtree4.5 miles25
Sawmill Flat7.2 miles26
Trimmer9.2 miles30
Goodmill10.0 miles25
Bretz Mill11.1 miles28
Dunlap11.4 miles23
Millwood (historical)12.6 miles23

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 Balch CampAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4850231The 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 256450. 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.