Browns Flat, California
37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Sonora census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95370. It lies near Tennessee Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Columbia quadrangle.
Then and now
1891 to 2001The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 37 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.
- 1891 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1948 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1993 USGS San Andreas quadrangle1:100000
- 2001 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
957 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 957 fires within 5 miles of Browns Flat between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,003 acres in total. 24 started naturally. 56 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/undetermined | 388 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 198 |
| Debris and open burning | 156 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 65 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 56 |
| Smoking | 32 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 25 |
| Natural | 24 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
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 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | MONO |
| 9 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Central California District | PARROTS |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | LIGHTNING#21 |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | LIGHTNING#37 |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Central California District | LIGHTING 24 |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | LIGHTNING 30 |
| 9 September 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | COX |
| 9 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | FERENCZY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 397 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 397 workings within 5 miles of Browns Flat: 145 unknowns, 97 past producers, 73 occurrences, 70 producers. 71 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Manganese, Limestone, Dimension. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B Brown We Finch Ad Hunter | Talc-Soapstone | Occurrence | ||
| Experimental | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Experimental | Gold, Lead, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Golden Star | Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Hard To Find | Gold, Silver, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Reported Occurence | Slate, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Reported Occurence | Beryllium | Occurrence | ||
| Sonora | Silver, Gold | Producer | ||
| White Quarry | Pumice, Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Bell Columbia Marble Quarry | Marble, Dimension | Producer | Metamorphic |
Storms near this place
1 since 2023Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Browns Flat in 1 storm report in 2023: 1 hail. 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 2023 | Hail | Browns Flat | - | A trained spotter reported 1 inch hail in Downtown Sonora. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuesta Oaks | 0.1 miles | 37 | |
| Saratoga Acres | 0.5 miles | 37 | |
| Squabbletown | 0.8 miles | 37 | |
| Sonora Knolls | 1.2 miles | 28 | |
| Rancho Sonora Estates | 1.2 miles | 28 | |
| Shaws Flat | 1.3 miles | 37 | |
| Sonora | 1.4 miles | 28 | |
| Martinez | 1.4 miles | 37 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1655848. 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.












