BlockBefore

Marcel, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1992. It stands in the Tehachapi census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93561. The Survey maps it on the Keene quadrangle. It stands 3,245 feet above sea level.

Marcel within Kern County

Then and now

1914 to 1992

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Marcel, surveyed 1992
Topographic sheet of Marcel, surveyed 1914

Compare 1914 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 27 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

94 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 94 fires within 5 miles of Marcel between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,454 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 7 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/undetermined47
Equipment and vehicle use16
Misuse of fire by a minor12
Arson/incendiarism7
Debris and open burning5
Natural3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Smoking1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
9 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined35 acresKern County Fire DepartmentVISTA
9 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
5 September 2017Natural5.0 acresCentral California DistrictWATER
28 September 2019Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
27 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
2 September 2012Smoking1.0 acresKern County Fire Departmentnot named
2 September 1998Natural4.0 acresTulare UnitBROOM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Marcel: 5 past producers, 2 producers, 2 occurrences, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Mercury, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, General. 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
Got RocksStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Keene DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Fickert - Durnal ProspectMercuryPast ProducerCinnabar
Fickert-Durnal ProspectMercuryPast Producer
Hixson LeaseMercuryOccurrenceCinnabar
Hixson LeaseMercuryProspect
Loop RanchMercuryUnknown
Loop RanchMercuryOccurrence
TehachapiMercuryProducer
Walabu MineMercuryPast Producer1916

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

2 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Marcel in 2 storm reports between 2017 and 2023: 1 flash flood, 1 flood. 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
March 2023FloodMarcel-California Highway Patrol reported boulders on the roadway on Woodford Tehachapi Rd.
August 2017Flash FloodMarcel-Water was covering several roadways in and around Tehachapi.

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
Walong1.2 miles27
Woodford2.4 miles27
Cable2.6 miles27
El Rita2.8 miles27
Keene3.3 miles27
Old Town3.5 miles27
Golden Hills3.6 miles27
Rowen4.7 miles27

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.

Wikidata item Q11767340The 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 1660989. 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.