Cholame, California
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Paso Robles census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93461. It lies in Cholame Valley. The Survey maps it on the Cholame quadrangle. It stands 1,158 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1914 to 1989The same ground, surveyed 75 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 23 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.
- 1914 USGS Cholame quadrangle1:125000
- 1915 USGS Cholame quadrangle1:125000
- 1917 USGS Cholame quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1943 USGS Cholame quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS San Luis Obispo quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Cholame quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1961 USGS Shandon quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS Paso Robles quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
116 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 116 fires within 5 miles of Cholame between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,692 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 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 | 57 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 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 | JACK |
| 8 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | HWY46E SPOT |
| 7 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | FOOTHILL |
| 29 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | SLU3124 |
| 24 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | VALLEY |
| 24 September 1993 | Smoking | 11 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | ANTELOPE |
| 23 September 2011 | Natural | under an acre | San Luis Obispo Unit | MEMORIAL |
| 19 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | San Luis Obispo Unit | HWY 46 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Cholame: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antelope Mud Company | Clay | Past Producer | 1935 |
Storms near this place
2 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cholame in 2 storm reports between 2016 and 2023: 2 flash 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | Flash Flood | Cholame | - | California Highway Patrol reported significant flooding in the community of Cambria in San Luis Obispo county. At a gas station, water rose to a depth up to half of the gas pumps. |
| May 2016 | Flash Flood | Cholame | - | California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding and mud and debris flows across sections of Highway 46, northeast of Shandon. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shandon | 6.3 miles | 22 | |
| Whitley Gardens | 12.0 miles | 27 | |
| Bern | 13.1 miles | 27 | |
| Union | 15.2 miles | 27 | |
| Estrella | 16.7 miles | 27 | |
| Linne | 17.8 miles | 25 | |
| Wilson Corner | 18.1 miles | 21 | |
| Creston | 18.6 miles | 25 |
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 Cholame | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1075886 | 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 252871. 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.











