Mad River, California
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1949 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Mad River census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95552. It stands on Lamb Creek. The Survey maps it on the Dinsmore quadrangle. 361 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,484 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1949 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 48 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1949 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresMad River fell from 420 to 361 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 | 420 | |
| 2020 | 361 | -59 (-14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 13 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.
- 1949 USGS Blocksburg quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Blocksburg quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Redding quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1977 USGS Dinsmore quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Garberville quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Dinsmore quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
112 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 112 fires within 5 miles of Mad River between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,612 acres in total. 23 started naturally. 11 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 | 24 |
| Natural | 23 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 12 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 11 |
| Other causes | 5 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | not named |
| 5 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 52 acres | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | HAPPY |
| 5 September 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | CROOK |
| 3 September 2003 | Natural | 2.5 acres | Six Rivers National Forest | RABBIT |
| 28 September 1992 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | not named |
| 26 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Six Rivers National Forest | BUCK |
| 22 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 73 acres | Six Rivers National Forest | not named |
| 21 September 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | not named |
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 Mad River: 3 occurrences, 3 unknowns, 2 prospects, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Copper, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold. 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 Creek Placer | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Dinsmore Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Black Palangus | Copper | Occurrence | ||
| Black Palangus | Copper | Unknown | ||
| Copper Queen Group | Copper | Prospect | ||
| Unknown | Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite | |
| Unknown | Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite | |
| Unnamed Location | Chromium | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Chromium | Prospect | ||
| Unnamed Location | Chromium | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sids Place | 3.6 miles | 16 | |
| Miller Place | 4.4 miles | 16 | |
| McClellan Place | 5.3 miles | 16 | |
| Graham Place | 5.7 miles | 16 | |
| Norgaar (historical) | 6.0 miles | 16 | |
| Friend Place | 8.1 miles | 16 | |
| Forest Glen | 11.2 miles | 17 | |
| Ueland Place | 11.3 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 Mad River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6646044 | 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 263105. 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.





