BlockBefore

Felton, California

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the San Lorenzo Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95018. It stands on Bull Creek. The Survey maps it on the Felton quadrangle. 4,489 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 285 feet above sea level.

Felton within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1902 to 1998

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Felton, surveyed 1998
Topographic sheet of Felton, surveyed 1902

On record in Felton

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Felton grew from 4,057 to 4,489 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
20104,057
20204,489+432 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 32 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

577 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 577 fires within 5 miles of Felton between 1992 and 2020, burning about 844 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 56 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/undetermined247
Equipment and vehicle use130
Arson/incendiarism56
Recreation and ceremony42
Debris and open burning34
Misuse of fire by a minor24
Smoking19
Power generation/transmission/distribution15
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Other causes3
Natural2
Firearms and explosives use1

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 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionHERMON
9 September 2013Smokingunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCREEKSIDE AV ZAYANTE
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitMARTIN
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitP.G.&E.#14
8 September 2015Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitLAKE
8 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitROAD
8 September 1993Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitQUAIL HOLLOW
8 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPG&E #4

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 40 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Felton: 16 past producers, 11 occurrences, 8 producers, 5 unknowns. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, Dimension, Gold, Limestone, General. 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
Central Supply CoFlagstoneUnknown
Felton QuarryStoneProducer
Lone Star Industries Inc.Limestone, General, ClayPast Producer
Unnamed LocationClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Unnamed LocationClayPast Producer
Bachellor Ranch QuarryGraniteOccurrence
Bonny Doon Limestone QuarryLimestone, GeneralProducer
Calplatti QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

7 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Felton in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 2 flash flood, 2 debris flow, 1 heavy rain, 1 hail. 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
February 1998Flash FloodFelton1 killed, $500,000Flash flood po San Lorenzo River from Felton to Santa Cruz.
January 2011Heavy RainFelton$15,000At approximately 5:04 p.m. PST State Route 9 was closed from 1.2 miles north of Felton to 2.4 miles north of Felton due to downed power lines. The roadway reopened at 5:56 a.m. on January 3, 2011.
December 2012Debris FlowFelton$1,000Heavy rain caused a mudslide which blocked the southbound lanes of Felton Empire Road, near Bonny Doon.
January 2024FloodFelton$10A landslide was reported near Felton Empire Road and Fetherston Way.
March 2018HailFelton-Small hail reported in Felton.
January 2017Debris FlowFelton-Mud dirt and rock across roadway at Felton Empire Rd and Bennett Creek Trail.
February 1998Flash FloodFelton-San Lorenzo at Felton

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz 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
Mount Hermon0.8 miles32
Brackney1.3 miles32
Olympia1.5 miles32
Glen Arbor1.7 miles32
Mission Springs2.4 miles32
Camp Evers2.6 miles32
Ben Lomond2.7 miles32
Rincon2.9 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 FeltonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2495480The 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 277512. 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.