Crystal Lake, California
37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2000. It stands in the Donner census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95959. It stands on Rattlesnake Creek. The Survey maps it on the Cisco Grove quadrangle. It stands 5,738 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 2000The 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 sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 37 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.
- 1891 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1898 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1938 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Cisco Grove quadrangle1:24000, 9 printings
- 1955 USGS Emigrant Gap quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 2000 USGS Cisco Grove quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
214 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 214 fires within 5 miles of Crystal Lake between 1992 and 2020, burning about 654 acres in total. 52 started naturally. 5 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 ceremony | 93 |
| Natural | 52 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | BLUE |
| 8 September 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | HUYSINK |
| 7 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | EAGLE |
| 7 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 38 acres | Tahoe National Forest | PHOENIX |
| 7 September 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.5 acres | Tahoe National Forest | BLUE |
| 7 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Tahoe National Forest | BLACK OAK |
| 7 September 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | LAING |
| 6 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SPRING |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 61 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 61 workings within 5 miles of Crystal Lake: 27 occurrences, 23 past producers, 8 unknowns, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Copper, Copper, Silver, Granite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlisle | Copper, Zinc, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Vein | |
| Gould and Towle Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Lucky Joe | Gold, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Red Mountain Group | Copper, Gold, Silver | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Sylvanite Gp. | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Gould & Towle Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Gould and Towle Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Lucky Joe | Gold, Copper, Cobalt | Occurrence | ||
| Occurrence | Gold, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Prospect | Copper, Cobalt | Occurrence | Cobaltite |
Storms near this place
2 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Crystal Lake in 2 storm reports between 2016 and 2018: 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2016 | Flood | Crystal Lake | $5,000 | The Rainbow Lodge experienced basement flooding as the South Fork of the Yuba River rose out of its banks. This damaged tools and other items in the basement. |
| April 2018 | Flood | Crystal Lake | - | Roadway flooding along I80 offramp at State Route 20. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yuba Pass | 1.6 miles | 37 | |
| Camp Spaulding | 3.6 miles | 34 | |
| Langs (historical) | 4.6 miles | 34 | |
| Baltimore Town | 4.8 miles | 30 | |
| Bear Valley (historical) | 6.1 miles | 34 | |
| Eagle Bird (historical) | 6.9 miles | 34 | |
| Summit City (historical) | 6.9 miles | 30 | |
| Maybert (historical) | 7.2 miles | 34 |
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 Crystal Lake | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5191232 | 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 258964. 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.












