Essex, California
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1942 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Newberry Springs-Baker census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92332. The Survey maps it on the Essex quadrangle. 89 people lived here at the 2005 count. It stands 1,732 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1942 to 1985The same ground, surveyed 43 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1942 against another survey:
On record in Essex
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 1 record
- Providence Townsitelisted 2016
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 18 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.
- 1942 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:250000
- 1943 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:250000
- 1943 USGS Essex quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Essex quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000, 7 printings
- 1981 USGS Needles quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Amboy quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Essex quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
10 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Essex between 1993 and 2006, burning about 220 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Desert District | FORD |
| 20 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | CALTRANS |
| 19 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Desert District | SPRINGS |
| 13 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 218 acres | California Desert District | SBC5693ASSIST 70 |
| 6 July 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | ESSEX |
| 13 July 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Desert District | WATER |
| 8 June 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Desert District | SPRINGS |
| 7 May 1993 | Smoking | under an acre | Mojave National Preserve | BLMASST#2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Essex: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Quarries | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
8 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Essex in 8 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 7 flash flood, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $500,000 | A bridge was washed out on Route 66 southwest of Essex, and mud was over the roads in and around Essex. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $5,000 | National Trails Highway and Goffs Road were closed due to flooding with large amounts of debris. |
| August 2013 | Flash Flood | Essex | $5,000 | Mud covered Essex Road, with several cars stuck in the mud. |
| May 2023 | Flood | Essex | $2,000 | Minor flooding left sand and debris on the Essex Road off ramp from Interstate 40. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $2,000 | Water and debris were in the intersection of Goffs Road and National Trails Highway. |
| August 2016 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Two feet of standing water covered Essex Road. The road was eventually closed from National Trails Highway to Interstate 40. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Essex Road was flooded near Interstate 40. |
| September 2014 | Flash Flood | Essex | $1,000 | Three feet of water crossed National Trails Highway at Essex. |
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.
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 Essex | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5399620 | 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 1656508. 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.








