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Eureka, California

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1922 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Eureka census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95501. It lies near Woodley Island. The Survey maps it on the Eureka quadrangle. 26,512 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 39 feet above sea level.

Eureka within Humboldt County

Then and now

1922 to 1987

The same ground, surveyed 65 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Eureka, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of Eureka, surveyed 1922

On record in Eureka

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 12 of 19 shown

Every listing in Humboldt County

Population over time

3 figures

Eureka grew from 612 to 26,512 between 1860 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
1860612
201027,191
202026,512-679 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 19 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

102 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 102 fires within 5 miles of Eureka between 1992 and 2020, burning about 540 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 14 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined40
Debris and open burning16
Recreation and ceremony14
Arson/incendiarism14
Equipment and vehicle use12
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Smoking1
Natural1
Other causes1

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 2010Misuse of fire by a minor205 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 2008Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresHumboldt-Del Norte UnitGILL
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitELK
7 September 2006Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitCUTTEN
5 September 1992Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitBEECHWOOD
4 September 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNorthern California DistrictYOUNG
4 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreHumboldt-Del Norte UnitMCKAY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Humboldt County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Eureka: 4 occurrences, 4 prospects, 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Haw QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Fred Carlson PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Haw QuarryStoneOccurrence
Manila Dunes Sand RemovalSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
UnknownStoneOccurrence
Freshwater SloughClayOccurrence
Freshwater SloughClayProspect
LoofbourrowClayOccurrence
Thompson Brick CoClayPast Producer
Unnamed LocationClayProspectSedimentary

Every working recorded in Humboldt County

Storms near this place

8 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Eureka in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2022: 5 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 tornado. 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
January 2018Tornado (EF0)Eureka$100A waterspout over Humboldt Bay moved inland across Woodley Island. A boat anemometer measured a wind speed of 54 mph associated with the brief tornado. In addition, a fiber glass case snapped on a dock. The path length was estimated to be 200 feet, and the width was approximately 30 yards.
December 2022FloodEureka-Minor flooding across Waterfront Drive near the marina in Eureka.
February 2019FloodEureka-Roadway flooding at 1656 Union Street in Eureka; near intersection of Union Street and West Church Avenue.
December 2002FloodEureka-Small stream flooding occurred in a wide swath across central Humboldt County.
December 2002Heavy RainEureka-Eureka set an all time daily rainfall record of 6.79 inches. Nearby Honeydew reported 11.24 inches.
December 2002FloodEureka-Widespread urban and small stream flooding in Eureka and around Humboldt Bay.
November 1999Thunderstorm WindEureka-no account filed
March 1998FloodEureka-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Humboldt 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
Samoa1.7 miles19
Myrtletown2.0 miles19
Bayview2.3 miles19
Rosewood2.4 miles19
Fairhaven2.4 miles19
Bucksport2.4 miles19
Cutten2.5 miles19
Pine Hill2.7 miles19

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 EurekaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q488702The 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 277605. 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.