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El Portal, California

35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Yosemite Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95318. It stands on Henness Branch. The Survey maps it on the El Portal quadrangle. 372 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,939 feet above sea level.

El Portal within Mariposa County

Then and now

1897 to 2004

The same ground, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of El Portal, surveyed 2004
Topographic sheet of El Portal, surveyed 1897

On record in El Portal

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 9 records

Population over time

2 figures

El Portal fell from 474 to 372 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
2010474
2020372-102 (-22%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 surveys from 35 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

129 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 129 fires within 5 miles of El Portal between 1992 and 2020, burning about 19,518 acres in total. 47 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
Natural47
Recreation and ceremony18
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Debris and open burning16
Equipment and vehicle use12
Smoking8
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Arson/incendiarism2
Fireworks1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
9 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSierra National ForestWEST
8 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreYosemite National ParkLINE
7 September 2017Equipment and vehicle use15 acresYosemite National ParkRATTKESNAKE
3 September 2007Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreYosemite National ParkNEIGHBOR
28 September 2000Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreYosemite National ParkCENTER
27 September 2005Naturalunder an acreYosemite National Park11 MILE
25 September 2001Naturalunder an acreYosemite National ParkPOTATO
25 September 2001Naturalunder an acreStanislaus National ForestTRUMBULL

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mariposa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 107 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 107 workings within 5 miles of El Portal: 48 occurrences, 40 past producers, 7 producers, 7 prospects. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Tungsten, Barium-Barite, Gold, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
ClearinghouseGold, Silver, Lead, Copper, ZincPast Producer1860
Devils GulchGold, Platinum, Cobalt, Nickel, TinPast ProducerGold
Devils GulchPGE, Cobalt, Nickel, TinUnknown
Emma IGold, Silver, LeadPast ProducerGold
Ferguson MineGold, Silver, Copper, Lead, ZincPast Producer1860
Original MineGold, Lead, Silver, Copper, ZincPast Producer1908
Rutherford & CranberryGold, LeadPast Producer1863
Williams BrothersGold, Zinc, LeadPast ProducerGold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Eureka IiiGold, Lead, ZincPast Producer1868
Hite MineGold, SilverPast Producer1862

Every working recorded in Mariposa County

Storms near this place

7 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names El Portal in 7 storm reports between 1999 and 2023: 3 flood, 1 lightning, 1 wildfire, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2003WildfireEl Portal$1,280,000The Woodlot Fire inside Yosemite National Park burned 458 acres. The cause is unknown but no structures or fatalities occurred.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindEl Portal$20,000no account filed
January 2023FloodEl Portal-Mariposa County Emergency Manager reported debris flow flooding captured in a gabion about 750 feet above El Portal at the west end of Yosemite National Park which threatened nearly all of the residences and buildings in El Portal and prompted the issuance of an evacuation advisory for the area. A Flood Watch had been in effect and several Flood Advisories had been issued for the Sierra Nevada during the day and evening on January 9.
December 2022FloodEl Portal-California Highway Patrol reported SR 140 entrance to Yosemite closed due to a rockfall 3 miles east of the tollbooths.
November 2018Debris FlowEl Portal-California Highway Patrol reported water and rocks covering State Route 140 near El Portal in the Ferguson Fire burn area.
January 2017FloodEl Portal-California Highway Patrol reported large boulders blocking westbound lane of Highway 140 near El Portel just west of Yosemite National Park entrance.
September 1999LightningEl Portal-Two (2) lightning strikes observed by OES Fire official in the vicinity of Crane Flat, NNW of El Portal, in the mid to late afternoon hours. Both strikes produced small fires but were controlled. No reported damage other than fire suppression.

Every storm recorded in Mariposa 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
Foresta2.2 miles35
Buena Vista2.6 miles35
Incline3.8 miles35
Yosemite West3.9 miles29
Hite Cove4.2 miles35
Clearing House4.5 miles35
Jerseydale8.6 miles35
Briceburg10.8 miles32

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 El PortalAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2855863The 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 259813. 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.