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Bishop, California

26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1913 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Bishop census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93514. The Survey maps it on the Bishop quadrangle. 3,819 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,150 feet above sea level.

Bishop within Inyo County

Then and now

1913 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Bishop, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Bishop, surveyed 1913

On record in Bishop

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Bishop fell from 3,879 to 3,819 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
20103,879
20203,819-60 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 26 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

199 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 199 fires within 5 miles of Bishop between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,768 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 11 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/undetermined92
Equipment and vehicle use37
Recreation and ceremony18
Arson/incendiarism11
Debris and open burning11
Smoking11
Natural10
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Fireworks1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
30 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitHWY 395 / WARM SPRINGS R
3 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitBISHOP AIRPORT BISHOP_F 4
22 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitRIVER
20 September 2014Naturalunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitBROCKMAN LN / DIXON LN 3
19 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitROSSI # 2
19 September 1994Naturalunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitPOLELINE
17 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSan Bernardino UnitDIXON
15 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionHWY 168 / MUMY RD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Inyo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 16 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Bishop: 10 past producers, 6 producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Tungsten, Antimony, Tungsten, Gold. 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
Laws Custom MillKaolin, ClayProducer
YaneyTungsten, GoldPast ProducerFerberite
Yaney MineTungsten, GoldPast Producer
Bishop Antimony MineAntimonyProducer
Bishop Antimony MineAntimonyPast Producer
RossiTungstenPast ProducerScheelite
RossiTungstenPast Producer
RossiTungstenPast Producer
Adams PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Brockman PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Inyo County

Storms near this place

15 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bishop in 15 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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
December 2010Heavy RainBishop$20,000Heavy rain produced minor flooding of numerous streets and several yards in Bishop.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindBishop$10,000Two trees were blown down by thunderstorm outflow winds. One tree landed on a mobile home.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindBishop$10,000Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and limbs in Bishop.
July 1997Flash FloodBishop$10,000Flash flooding occurred in several washes on the west slopes of the White Mountains causing some damage to roads.
March 2019Flash FloodBishop$5,000The intersection of Sunland Dr and Gerkin Rd south of Bishop was flooded, with debris in the road and minor damage to the edge of the road.
July 2023FloodBishop$1,000Tungsten City Road near Bishop was closed due to flooding. Note that this was strictly snowmelt flooding.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindBishop$1,000Outflow winds from distant thunderstorms blew down numerous tree branches|onto Highway 395 near West Bishop, closing the road for a short while. A weather station about six miles away recorded a gust of 60 mph.
June 2016LightningBishop$1,000Lightning started a fire near the gun club just north of West Bishop.
July 2016Flash FloodBishop$1,000Two feet of water covered Hobbs Circle. Water in the storm drain blew off a manhole cover and spouted like a geyser.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindBishop$1,000Thunderstorm winds blew a large tree down onto Highway 395.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindBishop$1,000Thunderstorm winds blew down 6-8 inch tree branches.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindBishop$1,000Thunderstorm winds blew a tree onto Sunland Lane, blocking half of the road. The Bishop ASOS recorded a peak gust of 56 mph several minutes before the tree fell.
March 2018Tornado (EF0)Bishop-There were several public reports of a landspout tornado. Additional information was gathered from the local newspaper in Bishop California.
October 2010HailBishop-The largest stones were penny size; most stones were smaller.
July 2015HailBishop-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Inyo 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
Bishop Trail Park0.2 miles26
Brockmans Corner2.2 miles26
Sunland (historical)2.2 miles26
West Bishop3.2 miles26
Oteys Sierra Village3.4 miles26
Poleta3.7 miles26
Laws3.7 miles26
Rocking K4.6 miles26

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 BishopAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q852658The 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 277475. 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.