Hornitos, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Mariposa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95338. It stands on Eldorado Creek. The Survey maps it on the Hornitos quadrangle. 38 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 843 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1893 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Hornitos
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
Hornitos Masonic Hall No. 98listed 2005
Population over time
2 figuresHornitos fell from 75 to 38 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 | 75 | |
| 2020 | 38 | -37 (-49%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 28 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.
- 1893 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1896 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000, 8 printings
- 1898 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
- 1947 USGS Coulterville quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1947 USGS Hornitos quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Hornitos quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Oakdale quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
60 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of Hornitos between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,451 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 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/undetermined | 25 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 21 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | GAINES |
| 29 September 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | MCSWAIN |
| 27 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | SLATE GULCH RD CATHEYS_V |
| 25 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | HORNITOS |
| 20 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | LA PALOMA |
| 15 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | MCCLURE/PG&E #41 |
| 12 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | HORNITOS 2 |
| 12 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.6 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | HORNITOS RD / BEAR VALLEY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 109 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 109 workings within 5 miles of Hornitos: 36 past producers, 34 occurrences, 27 unknowns, 9 producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Eagle | Copper, Zinc, Gold, Silver, Lead | Past Producer | 1890 | |
| American Eagles | Zinc, Gold, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Blue Moon | Zinc, Copper, Lead, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | 1935, 1945 | |
| Blue Moon | Zinc, Copper, Gold, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | Underground | |
| Bronsen Manganese Claim | Manganese | Occurrence | 1917 | |
| Doss | Gold, Lead, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | 1870 | |
| Mount Gaines | Gold, Lead, Silver, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | 1853 | |
| Silver Lead | Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Silver | Past Producer | 1865 | |
| Unknown | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Washington | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | 1850 |
Storms near this place
7 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hornitos in 7 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 4 flood, 1 wildfire, 1 hail, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Flood | Hornitos | - | California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at the intersection of Hornitos Rd. and Bear Valley Rd. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Hornitos | - | Public report of a driver stuck in flood waters on the westbound lane of Hornitos Rd. near La Paloma Rd. just west of the Merced River. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Hornitos | - | Public report of a barn roof washed up onto Hornitos Rd. at High St. |
| March 2023 | Flood | Hornitos | - | California Highway Patrol reported flooding on Hornitos Rd. at Slate Gulch Rd. and Indian Gulch Rd. |
| June 2001 | Wildfire | Hornitos | - | The Merced Falls Wildfire was caused by a metal-bladed weed eater. It burned approximately 400 acres but no fatalities or structures were lost. The cost to combat is unknown. |
| January 2006 | Hail | Hornitos | - | no account filed |
| January 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Hornitos | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Gulch | 4.9 miles | 17 | |
| Bear Valley | 7.8 miles | 31 | |
| Catheys Valley | 8.9 miles | 20 | |
| Bagby | 9.3 miles | 28 | |
| Barrett | 9.8 miles | 28 | |
| Mount Bullion | 10.3 miles | 31 | |
| Agua Fria | 11.6 miles | 20 | |
| Hayward | 12.0 miles | 28 |
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 Hornitos | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5904452 | 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 1659736. 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.











