BlockBefore

Buena Vista, California

28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Jackson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95640. The Survey maps it on the Ione quadrangle. 542 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 295 feet above sea level.

Buena Vista within Amador County

Then and now

1889 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Buena Vista, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Buena Vista, surveyed 1889

Population over time

2 figures

Buena Vista grew from 429 to 542 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
2010429
2020542+113 (+26%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 28 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

335 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 335 fires within 5 miles of Buena Vista between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,060 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 18 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/undetermined137
Equipment and vehicle use109
Debris and open burning35
Arson/incendiarism18
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Recreation and ceremony8
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Natural6
Smoking3
Fireworks3

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 1999Naturalunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitPARDEE
9 September 1999Natural10 acresAmador-El Dorado Unit0WENS
9 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitTWIN
8 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitLAKEVIEW
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresAmador-El Dorado Unit124
6 September 2012Naturalunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitG2C
6 September 2005Equipment and vehicle use4.0 acresCentral California DistrictFRENCH
6 September 1992Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitPOND

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Amador County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 185 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 185 workings within 5 miles of Buena Vista: 57 occurrences, 39 past producers, 34 producers, 34 prospects. 34 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Gold, Copper, Chromium. 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
Campo SecoCopper, Gold, Silver, ZincProducer
Ellis PropertyChromium, IronProspect
FancherGold, ClayProducer
Glo-Bar MinesGold, SilverProducer
HaywardCopper, Silver, Gold, ZincPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Ione Pit and MillZirconium, Titanium, KaolinProducer1954
MooneyGemstone, QuartzOccurrence
MooneyGemstoneProspect
NewtonCopper, Silver, Gold, Lead, ZincPast Producer1863
NewtonCopper, Gold, SilverPast ProducerUnderground

Every working recorded in Amador County

Storms near this place

2 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Buena Vista in 2 storm reports between 2025 and 2026: 2 flood. 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
January 2026FloodBuena Vista-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at Buena Vista Road and Coal Mine Road.
December 2025FloodBuena Vista-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding from heavy rain.

Every storm recorded in Amador 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
Firebrick2.8 miles28
Camanche Village3.6 miles28
Sunnybrook3.9 miles28
Ione4.2 miles28
Chinatown (historical)4.2 miles28
Dagon4.3 miles28
Lancha Plana (historical)4.8 miles30
Clarksona6.6 miles28

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 Buena VistaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3473942The 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 252642. 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.