Happy Camp, California
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Happy Camp census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96039. It stands on Indian Creek. The Survey maps it on the Happy Camp quadrangle. 905 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,657 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1914 to 2001The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1914 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresHappy Camp fell from 1,190 to 905 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,190 | |
| 2020 | 905 | -285 (-24%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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.
- 1914 USGS Seiad quadrangle1:125000
- 1922 USGS Seiad quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1948 USGS Weed quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1950 USGS Weed quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Happy Camp quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Weed quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1963 USGS Weed quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Happy Camp quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Happy Camp quadrangle1:100000
- 2001 USGS Happy Camp quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
223 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 223 fires within 5 miles of Happy Camp between 1992 and 2020, burning about 321,641 acres in total. 75 started naturally. 28 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 75 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38 |
| Debris and open burning | 31 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 28 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 13 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Other causes | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
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 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Klamath National Forest | not named |
| 8 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 acres | Klamath National Forest | SLATER |
| 8 September 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Klamath National Forest | not named |
| 8 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Klamath National Forest | not named |
| 7 September 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Klamath National Forest | CURLY |
| 6 September 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.5 acres | Klamath National Forest | not named |
| 4 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Klamath National Forest | LUTHER |
| 4 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Klamath National Forest | LITTLE BUCK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 91 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 91 workings within 5 miles of Happy Camp: 35 unknowns, 23 past producers, 17 occurrences, 8 producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Copper, Silver, Manganese. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copper Creek | Copper, Zinc | Occurrence | Replacement | |
| Gray Eagle | Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Gray Eagle | Copper, Gold, Silver, Zinc, Cobalt, Lead | Past Producer | 1892, 1898 | |
| Klamath Group | Gold, Copper | Occurrence | Underground | |
| Reported Occurrences | Asbestos | Occurrence | ||
| Short Bend | Chromium | Prospect | ||
| Short Bend and River Bend Placers | Gold, Platinum | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Short Bend and River Bend Placers | Gold, Platinum | Past Producer | ||
| Davis Prospect | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| Sylvester Prospect | Manganese | Occurrence | Rhodonite |
Storms near this place
4 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Happy Camp in 4 storm reports between 1997 and 2012: 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Happy Camp | - | A member of the public reported several trees down due to thunderstorm related wind gusts. The Squaw Peak RAWS just over the Oregon border recorded a gust to 53 mph at 1739 PST and a gust to 75 mph at 1839 PST. These gusts were associated with the outflow from the same storm, so it is assumed that winds reached severe thunderstorm criteria over Siskiyou county as well. |
| July 2006 | Hail | Happy Camp | - | Spotter SY50 just east of Happy Camp reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Happy Camp | - | Spotter SY32 in Happy Camp reported strong winds with light rain, 1.5 inch thick branches were broken off of trees. |
| July 1997 | Flash Flood | Happy Camp | - | FOREST SERVICE REPORTED A FLASH FLOOD ON GRANITE AND ELK CREEK. THIS PRODUCED A MUDDY FLOW WHICH SHUT DOWN THE WATER TREATMENT PLANT FOR THE CITY OF HAPPY CAMP FOR 24 HRS. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoskin | 5.9 miles | 18 | |
| Clear Creek | 6.9 miles | 19 | |
| Fort Goff | 8.1 miles | 18 | |
| Ferry Point (historical) | 8.9 miles | 19 | |
| Seiad Valley | 10.4 miles | 19 | |
| Cottage Grove | 14.8 miles | 20 | |
| Hamburg | 16.9 miles | 18 | |
| Steelhead | 18.1 miles | 18 |
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 Happy Camp | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3458622 | 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 261072. 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.









