BlockBefore

Benton, California

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1917 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Mammoth Lakes census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93512. The Survey maps it on the Benton quadrangle. 279 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,387 feet above sea level.

Benton within Mono County

Then and now

1917 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 77 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Benton, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Benton, surveyed 1917

Population over time

2 figures

Benton fell from 280 to 279 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
2010280
2020279-1 (-0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 21 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

36 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 36 fires within 5 miles of Benton between 1993 and 2020, burning about 103 acres in total. 19 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
Natural19
Equipment and vehicle use8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism1
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
8 September 2012Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictBLACK
21 September 2002Other causesunder an acreCentral California DistrictRANCH
19 September 1994Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictBLIND
5 August 2012Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictMONTGOMERY
5 August 2008Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictHWY 6
4 August 2012Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictFOOTHILL
3 August 1993Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictMICROWAVE
26 August 2010Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictFOOTHILL

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mono County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 63 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 63 workings within 5 miles of Benton: 33 past producers, 14 producers, 9 occurrences, 6 prospects. 14 still produce. What was taken out: Silver, Pumice, Copper, Lead. 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
BentonLead, Copper, Silver, GoldPast Producer
Benton Hot SpringsGeothermalProducer
Benton OccurrenceSulfurOccurrence
Blind Springs HillSilver, Lead, Copper, GoldPast Producer
Blind Springs HillAntimony, Copper, Silver, Gold, LeadPast Producer
BristleconeCopper, ZincProspect
Comanche MineSilver, Lead, Gold, CopperPast Producer
MahleSilver, Gold, Lead, CopperPast Producer
MariettaSilver, Gold, LeadProducer
Neptune #140, Phenix #141, and Creek Side#142Lead, Iron, Zinc, CopperOccurrence

Every working recorded in Mono County

Storms near this place

3 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benton in 3 storm reports between 2014 and 2018: 1 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 debris flow. 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
March 2018Heavy RainBenton-Mesonet station BETC1, 1 mile north of Benton reported 1.02 inches of storm total rainfall from 20 March 0700PST to 23 March 0700PST.
July 2018Debris FlowBenton-California Highway Patrol reported that US Highway 6 was washed out with a large boulder in the roadway due to heavy rainfall from nearby thunderstorms. The approximate time of the event was 12 July 1506PST to 1606PST. No damage estimates were available.
August 2014HailBenton-Estimated nickel-sized hail.

Every storm recorded in Mono 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
Montgomery City2.5 miles21
Benton Hot Springs3.1 miles23
Hammil10.4 miles22
Pizona11.4 miles23
Benton Crossing17.3 miles28
North Landing19.0 miles25
Toms Place20.8 miles25
Chalfant Valley20.9 miles22

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 BentonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1650199The 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 256836. 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.