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Big River, California

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Needles census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92242. It stands on Arch Creek. The Survey maps it on the Parker quadrangle. 1,084 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 436 feet above sea level.

Big River within San Bernardino County

Then and now

1911 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 74 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Big River, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Big River, surveyed 1911

Compare 1911 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Big River fell from 1,327 to 1,084 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
20101,327
20201,084-243 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 22 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

243 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 243 fires within 5 miles of Big River between 1993 and 2020, burning about 1,908 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 5 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/undetermined141
Debris and open burning53
Misuse of fire by a minor20
Natural6
Arson/incendiarism5
Recreation and ceremony5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Smoking4
Fireworks3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2

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 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River AgencyLUIGI
8 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River AgencyBROWN
7 September 2005Debris and open burningunder an acreColorado River AgencyMARIO
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresColorado River AgencyBOOTH
5 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River AgencyMOHAVE RD
4 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreColorado River AgencyINDIAN SCHOOL
30 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River Agency4TH& BURNS
28 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado River AgencyBURNS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Bernardino County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Big River: 1 occurrence, 1 prospect, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper. 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
Lucky Day MineCopper, GoldPast Producer
Parker PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Morgan ClaimGold, SilverOccurrence
Unnamed ProspectGold, SilverProspect

Every working recorded in San Bernardino 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
Calzona2.7 miles21
Earp3.6 miles22
Bluewater5.3 miles22
Vidal8.0 miles18
Cross Roads9.3 miles25
Vidal Junction11.8 miles18
Parker Dam15.4 miles23
Tin Shack (historical)16.6 miles21

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 RiverAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1837406The 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 1866999. 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.