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Crescent City, California

21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Crescent City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95531. It lies near Elk Valley. The Survey maps it on the Crescent City quadrangle. 6,673 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 43 feet above sea level.

Crescent City within Del Norte County

Then and now

1929 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 54 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Crescent City, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Crescent City, surveyed 1929

On record in Crescent City

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Crescent City fell from 7,643 to 6,673 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
20107,643
20206,673-970 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 21 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

488 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 488 fires within 5 miles of Crescent City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 230 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 29 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
Recreation and ceremony211
Missing data/not specified/undetermined138
Debris and open burning43
Arson/incendiarism29
Equipment and vehicle use25
Misuse of fire by a minor24
Smoking8
Natural5
Fireworks4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitMICHAGIN
8 September 2007Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRedwood National and State ParksENDERTS BEACH #8
8 September 2004Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitBURTSCHELL
7 September 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRedwood National and State ParksCRESCENT BEACH 14
7 September 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRedwood National and State ParksCRESCENT BEACH 13
7 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresHumboldt-Del Norte UnitCREEK
6 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitHUMBOLDT RD / HODGE AVE
6 September 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRedwood National and State ParksCRESCENT BEACH 12

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Del Norte County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 15 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Crescent City: 6 producers, 4 occurrences, 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Platinum. 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
Crescent City BeachGold, Platinum, Titanium, Metal, Iron, ChromiumProducer1855, 1914
Crescent City Beach DepositsChromium, IronOccurrence
Uvaldon V MillerClayProducer
Elk Valley Quarry #1Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Elk Valley Quarry #2Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Elk Valley Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Rellim Redwood CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
SarinaGold, PlatinumPast Producer
Smith River Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Yates Beach MineGold, PlatinumUnknown

Every working recorded in Del Norte County

Storms near this place

8 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crescent City in 8 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 2 wildfire, 2 heavy rain, 1 tornado, 1 rip current. The reports record 1 death. 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
March 2001Rip CurrentCrescent City1 killedA youth visiting the beach with a group from Ashland, Oregon was swept of a rock at Preston Island by a large wave. Currents then carried the youth about 100 yards offshore where deputies lost visual contact.
February 2017Heavy RainCrescent City$600,000Culvert failures between mile post 20 and 28 along Highway 101.
February 2017Heavy RainCrescent City$200,000Culvert failures along Highway 101 from mile post 26 to 27.
November 2022HailCrescent City$5,000Auto accident due to hail covered roads. No injuries.
January 1996Tornado (F0)Crescent City$1,000no account filed
December 2002Funnel CloudCrescent City-Spotters reported numerous cold air funnels over the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City.
July 2002WildfireCrescent City-no account filed
August 2002WildfireCrescent City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Del Norte 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
Tatlatunne (historical)1.4 miles21
Pacific Shores6.9 miles21
Hiouchi7.3 miles16
Douglas Park7.7 miles16
Fort Dick8.2 miles21
Tryon Corner8.9 miles18
Yontocket10.5 miles18
Smith River12.2 miles18

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 Crescent CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q166866The 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 277494. 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.