BlockBefore

Johannesburg, California

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1976. It stands in the East Kern census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93528. The Survey maps it on the Johannesburg quadrangle. 113 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,517 feet above sea level.

Johannesburg within Kern County

Then and now

1903 to 1976

The same ground, surveyed 73 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Johannesburg, surveyed 1976
Topographic sheet of Johannesburg, surveyed 1903

Compare 1903 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Johannesburg fell from 172 to 113 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
2010172
2020113-59 (-34%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 25 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

24 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Johannesburg between 1993 and 2018, burning about 1,424 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was 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/undetermined11
Equipment and vehicle use6
Natural2
Firearms and explosives use2
Recreation and ceremony2
Debris and open burning1

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
6 September 1993Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictDUMP
23 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictPACERO
26 August 2006Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictR110
24 August 2013Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictRAND
4 July 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined550 acresCalifornia Desert DistrictRED
2 July 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 1094
7 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictLITTLE RED MOUNTAIN
5 June 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0232

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 307 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 307 workings within 5 miles of Johannesburg: 134 past producers, 109 prospects, 46 producers, 11 occurrences. 49 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Tungsten, Silver, Gold, Silver. 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
Atolia DistrictTungsten, Gold, Mercury, Antimony, SilverPast Producer1904, 1905
Atolia DistrictAntimony, Tungsten, Mercury, GoldProducerVEINS
B. H. P. MineManganese, Silica, Talc-SoapstonePast Producer
Baltic GulchTungsten, Gold, CopperOccurrenceGold, Scheelite
Banded Rock DepositStoneOccurrence
Culbert Brothers ClaimGold, ManganeseOccurrenceRhodonite, Spessartite
Gold Wash MineTungsten, SilverPast ProducerScheelite
Mabel S ClaimDiatomiteProducerSedimentary
Mizpah-Nevada MineSilver, Gold, CopperProspect
Monarch Rand GroupGold, Silver, Antimony, TungstenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

2 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Johannesburg in 2 storm reports between 2004 and 2005: 2 heavy rain. 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
February 2005Heavy RainJohannesburg-no account filed
August 2004Heavy RainJohannesburg-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kern 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
Randsburg1.3 miles25
Teagle (historical)4.4 miles28
Rand4.6 miles28
Goler Heights7.0 miles28
Searles7.7 miles28
Garlock8.5 miles24
Old Garlock10.1 miles24
Saltdale (historical)13.4 miles26

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 JohannesburgAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q743171The 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 244074. 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.