Big Lagoon, California
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1945 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the North Coastal census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95570. It stands on Gray Creek. The Survey maps it on the Trinidad OE N quadrangle. 161 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 56 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1945 to 1982The same ground, surveyed 37 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 figuresBig Lagoon grew from 93 to 161 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 | 93 | |
| 2020 | 161 | +68 (+73%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 11 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.
- 1945 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Orick quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
42 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Big Lagoon between 1992 and 2020, burning about 26 acres in total. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | VIBE |
| 5 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | OCEAN |
| 3 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | LAGOON |
| 23 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Redwood National and State Parks | DRY LAGOON |
| 19 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | DRY |
| 17 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Northern California District | UNNAMED FIRE 3621 |
| 14 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | PATRICK |
| 11 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | LAGOON |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Big Lagoon: 5 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Clay, Platinum, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Lagoon Mining Co. | Gold, Platinum | Producer | 1855 | |
| Dry Lagoon Drive | Clay | Occurrence | Sedimentary | |
| Pitcher Sone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Unknown | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Big Lagoon | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Redwood | Gold | Past Producer | ||
| Reported Occurrence | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Reported Occurrences | Gold | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
2 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Lagoon in 2 storm reports in 1998: 1 rip current, 1 coastal flood. The reports record 1 death. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1998 | Rip Current | Big Lagoon | 1 killed | no account filed |
| February 1998 | Coastal Flood | Big Lagoon | - | Beach erosion due to ongoing large surf began to crumble a bluff with several homes. The homes nearest the ocean were either condemed or moved away from the cliff. The erosion continued for several weeks. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shumig (historical) | 2.0 miles | 11 | |
| Patricks Point | 2.8 miles | 11 | |
| Tsurau (historical) | 7.0 miles | 11 | |
| Trinidad | 7.0 miles | 11 | |
| Westhaven | 8.7 miles | 13 | |
| Moonstone | 9.1 miles | 13 | |
| Ore'q (historical) | 9.5 miles | 12 | |
| Orick | 9.6 miles | 12 |
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 Big Lagoon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4905940 | 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 1658053. 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.







