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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.

Browns Flat within Tuolumne County

Then and now

1891 to 2001

The 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 sheet of Browns Flat, surveyed 2001
Topographic sheet of Browns Flat, surveyed 1891

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 37 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

957 since 1992

Regional 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/undetermined388
Equipment and vehicle use198
Debris and open burning156
Misuse of fire by a minor65
Arson/incendiarism56
Smoking32
Power generation/transmission/distribution25
Natural24
Recreation and ceremony9
Other causes2
Fireworks2

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
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitMONO
9 September 2002Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCentral California DistrictPARROTS
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitLIGHTNING#21
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitLIGHTNING#37
9 September 1999Natural1.0 acresCentral California DistrictLIGHTING 24
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictLIGHTNING 30
9 September 1996Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitCOX
9 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresTuolumne-Calaveras UnitFERENCZY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tuolumne County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 397 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
B Brown We Finch Ad HunterTalc-SoapstoneOccurrence
ExperimentalGold, Silver, Copper, LeadPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite
ExperimentalGold, Lead, SilverOccurrence
Golden StarGold, Copper, Lead, SilverPast Producer
Hard To FindGold, Silver, CopperPast Producer
Reported OccurenceSlate, DimensionOccurrence
Reported OccurenceBerylliumOccurrence
SonoraSilver, GoldProducer
White QuarryPumice, Limestone, GeneralProducer
Bell Columbia Marble QuarryMarble, DimensionProducerMetamorphic

Every working recorded in Tuolumne County

Storms near this place

1 since 2023

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2023HailBrowns Flat-A trained spotter reported 1 inch hail in Downtown Sonora.

Every storm recorded in Tuolumne 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
Cuesta Oaks0.1 miles37
Saratoga Acres0.5 miles37
Squabbletown0.8 miles37
Sonora Knolls1.2 miles28
Rancho Sonora Estates1.2 miles28
Shaws Flat1.3 miles37
Sonora1.4 miles28
Martinez1.4 miles37

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.