BlockBefore

Chester, California

28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Chester census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96020. It lies near Johnson Fields. The Survey maps it on the Chester quadrangle. 2,187 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,534 feet above sea level.

Chester within Plumas County

Then and now

1886 to 1995

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Chester, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet of Chester, surveyed 1886

On record in Chester

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Chester grew from 2,144 to 2,187 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
20102,144
20202,187+43 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 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

151 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 151 fires within 5 miles of Chester between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,701 acres in total. 31 started naturally. 7 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/undetermined53
Natural31
Recreation and ceremony18
Equipment and vehicle use15
Smoking11
Debris and open burning8
Misuse of fire by a minor7
Arson/incendiarism7
Fireworks1

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 2005Natural1,525 acresLassen Volcanic National ParkHORSESHOE
8 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLassen-Modoc Unit2ND AVE CHESTER
8 September 1997Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreLassen National ForestMICKEY
5 September 2017Naturalunder an acreLassen National ForestSTOVER
4 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLassen-Modoc Unit10K
27 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLassen-Modoc UnitC16
25 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionCAROL
24 September 2006Smoking1.0 acresLassen-Modoc UnitMAYWOOD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plumas County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Chester: 2 unknowns, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Chester PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Lake Almanor PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Plumas County

Storms near this place

2 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chester in 2 storm reports between 2015 and 2020: 2 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
July 2020HailChester-Estimated nickel sized hail at Chester, along with 1.24 inches of rain.
July 2015HailChester-Penny sized hail fell, along with wind gusts estimated at 40-50 mph. About an inch of rain fell in 20 minutes.

Every storm recorded in Plumas 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
Lake Almanor West5.0 miles26
Foxwood5.5 miles28
Lake Almanor Peninsula5.7 miles28
Peninsula Village5.8 miles28
Lake Almanor Country Club6.0 miles28
Almanor6.9 miles26
Hamilton Branch7.8 miles25
Prattville7.8 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 ChesterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q301176The 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 277487. 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.