BlockBefore

Benbow, California

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Garberville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95542. It stands on East Branch South Fork Eel River. The Survey maps it on the Garberville quadrangle. 422 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 440 feet above sea level.

Benbow within Humboldt County

Then and now

1921 to 1979

The same ground, surveyed 58 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Benbow, surveyed 1979
Topographic sheet of Benbow, surveyed 1921

On record in Benbow

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

Benbow grew from 321 to 422 between 2010 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
2010321
2020422+101 (+31%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 14 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

280 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 280 fires within 5 miles of Benbow between 1992 and 2020, burning about 512 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 7 were 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/undetermined119
Equipment and vehicle use64
Debris and open burning29
Recreation and ceremony21
Natural15
Misuse of fire by a minor11
Smoking10
Arson/incendiarism7
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Other causes1

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
9 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionDUMP
8 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitRIFLE 2
8 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitWINDY
8 September 2007Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitORCHARD 3
8 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresHumboldt-Del Norte UnitTOOBY
7 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitREDWOOD
7 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresHumboldt-Del Norte UnitAIRPORT
5 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionDAISY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Humboldt County

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Benbow: 3 producers, 2 unknowns, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Monschke QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Cooks Valley BarSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Randall Gravel BarSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Garberville ProspectGoldUnknown
UnknownGoldOccurrencePlacer
Unnamed LocationGoldUnknown

Every working recorded in Humboldt County

Storms near this place

1 since 2019

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benbow in 1 storm report in 2019: 1 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
January 2019FloodBenbow-CHP reported roadway flooding at the Highway 101 Benbow offramp.

Every storm recorded in Humboldt 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
Beall Place3.7 miles14
Redway4.1 miles14
Cooks Valley4.6 miles14
Briceland6.7 miles17
Harris6.8 miles14
Whitethorn9.0 miles17
Thorn Junction9.5 miles17
Phillipsville9.7 miles15

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 BenbowAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2834785The 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 1655827. 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.