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.
Then and now
1917 to 1994The 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.


Population over time
2 figuresBenton 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 280 | |
| 2020 | 279 | -1 (-0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 21 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1917 USGS White Mountain quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1962 USGS Benton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1987 USGS Benton quadrangle1:24000
- 1988 USGS Benton Range quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Benton quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
36 since 1993Regional 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | BLACK |
| 21 September 2002 | Other causes | under an acre | Central California District | RANCH |
| 19 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | BLIND |
| 5 August 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | MONTGOMERY |
| 5 August 2008 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | HWY 6 |
| 4 August 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | FOOTHILL |
| 3 August 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | MICROWAVE |
| 26 August 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | FOOTHILL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 63 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton | Lead, Copper, Silver, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Benton Hot Springs | Geothermal | Producer | ||
| Benton Occurrence | Sulfur | Occurrence | ||
| Blind Springs Hill | Silver, Lead, Copper, Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Blind Springs Hill | Antimony, Copper, Silver, Gold, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Bristlecone | Copper, Zinc | Prospect | ||
| Comanche Mine | Silver, Lead, Gold, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Mahle | Silver, Gold, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Marietta | Silver, Gold, Lead | Producer | ||
| Neptune #140, Phenix #141, and Creek Side#142 | Lead, Iron, Zinc, Copper | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
3 since 2014Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2018 | Heavy Rain | Benton | - | 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 2018 | Debris Flow | Benton | - | 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 2014 | Hail | Benton | - | Estimated nickel-sized hail. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery City | 2.5 miles | 21 | |
| Benton Hot Springs | 3.1 miles | 23 | |
| Hammil | 10.4 miles | 22 | |
| Pizona | 11.4 miles | 23 | |
| Benton Crossing | 17.3 miles | 28 | |
| North Landing | 19.0 miles | 25 | |
| Toms Place | 20.8 miles | 25 | |
| Chalfant Valley | 20.9 miles | 22 |
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 Benton | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1650199 | The 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.








