Cortez, California

The same ground, surveyed 67 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

1916 1983

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.

• 1916 USGS Cressey quadrangle1:31680
• 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
• 1948 USGS Cressey quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
• 1961 USGS Atwater quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1961 USGS Cressey quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
• 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
• 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
• 1983 USGS Merced quadrangle1:100000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 670 fires within 5 miles of Cortez between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,390 acres in total. None started naturally. 51 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.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Ballico
• Livingston
• Delhi
• Cressey
• Irwin
• Hilmar

Every fire recorded in Merced County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Cortez: 1 past producer, 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Cobalt, Nickel. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Merced County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cortez in 1 storm report in 2017: 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.

Every storm recorded in Merced County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

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.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1655926. 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.