Chinese Camp, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Sonora census division. It lies near Taylor Hill. The Survey maps it on the Chinese Camp quadrangle. 90 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,273 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresChinese Camp fell from 126 to 90 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 126 | |
| 2020 | 90 | -36 (-29%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 28 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.
- 1893 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1896 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1898 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1947 USGS Chinese Camp quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Chinese Camp quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Oakdale quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
346 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 346 fires within 5 miles of Chinese Camp between 1992 and 2020, burning about 16,549 acres in total. 21 started naturally. 19 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 | 127 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 103 |
| Debris and open burning | 33 |
| Natural | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 19 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 2 |
| Other causes | 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 1999 | Natural | 8.0 acres | Central California District | LIGHTNING 41 |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | 300 acres | Central California District | LIGHTNING 18 |
| 9 September 1999 | Natural | under an acre | Central California District | LIGHTNING 17 |
| 8 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | J59 / OLD DON PEDRO RD |
| 8 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Central California District | TRESCOTT |
| 7 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | SPRINGS |
| 7 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | ANGUS |
| 7 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | ROSASCO |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 211 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 211 workings within 5 miles of Chinese Camp: 71 past producers, 54 unknowns, 38 producers, 25 occurrences. 38 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erin Go Bragh and Cloudman | Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Golden Rule & Jumper | Gold, Bismuth | Occurrence | ||
| Hitchcock | Gold, Copper, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Jamestown S & G Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Mackey Ranch | Copper, Gold, Silver, Tungsten | Past Producer | ||
| Shell Ranch | Copper, Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Wood Creek Rock Pit | Stone, Silver | Producer | ||
| Ft Lillard Claims | Copper, Iron | Prospect | ||
| Grassely Claims | Chromium, Iron | Unknown | 1918 | |
| Heslep | Gold, Silver | Producer |
Storms near this place
1 since 2019Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chinese Camp in 1 storm report in 2019: 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Flood | Chinese Camp | - | Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports there are road closures along Red Hills Road in Chinese Camp, Sims Road in Jamestown, and Bell Mooney Road in Jamestown. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montezuma | 2.6 miles | 28 | |
| Yosemite Junction | 3.2 miles | 28 | |
| Stent | 3.4 miles | 28 | |
| Algerine | 3.8 miles | 28 | |
| Quartz | 4.0 miles | 28 | |
| Keystone | 4.7 miles | 19 | |
| Campo Seco | 4.8 miles | 28 | |
| Woods Crossing | 4.8 miles | 28 |
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 Chinese Camp | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q582753 | 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 233668. 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.











