Browns Valley, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Marysville Northeast census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95918. It stands on Little Dry Creek. The Survey maps it on the Browns Valley quadrangle. It stands 269 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1888 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 105 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
12 surveys from 27 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.
- 1888 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1891 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
- 1895 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1911 USGS Browns Valley quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS Browns Valley quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1949 USGS Browns Valley quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Wheatland quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Yuba City quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
444 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 444 fires within 5 miles of Browns Valley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,607 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 34 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 153 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 149 |
| Debris and open burning | 68 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 34 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Smoking | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HAMMON |
| 8 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | TOWNSHIP |
| 7 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HAMMONTON |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | SICARD |
| 6 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | ROLLIN |
| 5 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | MARYSVILLE |
| 5 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | CORRALS |
| 5 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | ROADSIDE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 42 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 42 workings within 5 miles of Browns Valley: 16 producers, 10 occurrences, 8 unknowns, 3 past producers. 18 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammonton District | Gold, Platinum, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | 1849 | |
| Motts Ranch | Stone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Yuba River District | Gold, Iridium, Platinum, Osmium | Producer | 1849, 1905 | |
| Yuba Silica | Silica | Producer | ||
| Hammonton-Yuba River | Gold, Silver | Producer | ||
| Parks Bar Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Paul Copper | Copper, Gold, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Sperbeck Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Browns Valley District | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | 1850 | |
| Unnamed Location | Gold, Silver | Occurrence |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sicard Flat | 3.4 miles | 24 | |
| Hammonton | 3.4 miles | 27 | |
| Olive Hill | 4.5 miles | 27 | |
| Loma Rica | 4.8 miles | 27 | |
| Marigold (historical) | 4.9 miles | 27 | |
| Iowa City | 5.0 miles | 27 | |
| Timbuctoo | 5.1 miles | 24 | |
| Rancho Loma Rica | 5.4 miles | 24 |
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 Browns Valley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4976686 | 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 1658144. 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.











