Iron Horse, California
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Portola census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96122. It lies near Humbug Valley. The Survey maps it on the Portola quadrangle. 269 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,944 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1890 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresIron Horse fell from 297 to 269 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 | 297 | |
| 2020 | 269 | -28 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 24 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.
- 1890 USGS Sierraville quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Sierraville quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Sierraville quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1950 USGS Portola quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Portola quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Portola quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Portola quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
228 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 228 fires within 5 miles of Iron Horse between 1992 and 2020, burning about 63 acres in total. 66 started naturally. 8 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 | 66 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 51 |
| Debris and open burning | 44 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 14 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | CARMAN |
| 8 September 2004 | Natural | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | DELLEKER |
| 6 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | C |
| 6 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | HORSE |
| 30 September 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | ROCKY |
| 29 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | 23 |
| 28 September 2014 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Plumas National Forest | ROAD |
| 24 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | CARMAN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Iron Horse: 5 occurrences, 3 unknowns, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mohawk Mine | Copper | Unknown | ||
| Valentine | Copper | Occurrence | Unknown | |
| Rocky Point Borrow Site | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | ||
| Willow Creek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Antelope | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Bullion | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Laura | Gold | Occurrence | ||
| Ohio Mine | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Quartz Mine 93 | Gold | Unknown |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mabie | 1.3 miles | 29 | |
| Delleker | 1.4 miles | 24 | |
| Delaney (historical) | 1.6 miles | 29 | |
| Portola | 2.1 miles | 24 | |
| Mohawk Vista | 4.4 miles | 29 | |
| Kerby (historical) | 4.7 miles | 24 | |
| Valley Ranch | 5.1 miles | 28 | |
| Clio | 5.4 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 Iron Horse | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2500259 | 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 1853395. 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.








