Mariposa, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Mariposa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95338. It lies near Stockton Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Mariposa quadrangle. 1,526 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,949 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1912 to 1980The same ground, surveyed 68 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Mariposa
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 4 records
Mariposa County High School Auditoriumlisted 1991
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Rectory and Cemeterylisted 1991- Mariposa County Courthouselisted 1977
- Mariposa Town Historic Districtlisted 1991
Population over time
2 figuresMariposa fell from 2,173 to 1,526 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 | 2,173 | |
| 2020 | 1,526 | -647 (-30%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 25 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.
- 1912 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Shaver Lake quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
373 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 373 fires within 5 miles of Mariposa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,407 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 23 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 | 118 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 98 |
| Debris and open burning | 88 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 24 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 23 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | BUCKEYE |
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | ALTA |
| 9 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | TITLE |
| 9 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | MORMAN |
| 8 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | MORNING |
| 8 September 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | HWY 49 S/ FAIRGROUNDS RD |
| 7 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | 49 NORTH |
| 6 September 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | TERRACE VIEW LN MPUD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 167 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 167 workings within 5 miles of Mariposa: 104 past producers, 33 occurrences, 22 producers, 5 unknowns. 22 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonesome Pine | Gold, Silver, Copper | Producer | ||
| Lonesome Pine | Gold, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Ortega | Gold, Zinc, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Our Chance | Gold, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Silver | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Princeton | Gold, Lead, Zinc, Copper | Past Producer | Gold, Pyrite | |
| Unspecified Locality | Mercury, Gold | Past Producer | Amalgam, Gold | |
| Ashworth Ranch Deposit Big Spring Hill | Magnesite | Occurrence | Magnesite | |
| Big Spring Hill | Magnesite | Occurrence | ||
| Iron-Copper Deposit | Iron, Copper | Unknown | ||
| Lawerence L Zollars | Slate, Dimension | Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mariposa in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 7 flood, 3 heavy rain, 2 wildfire, 1 drought. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1996 | Heavy Rain | Mariposa | 1 killed, 1 hurt, $4,000 | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Wildfire | Mariposa | $5,000,000 | The Briceburg Fire burned 728 acres and cost $5M to control by August 3rd The cause of the fire is unknown but no structures were lost. |
| July 2003 | Wildfire | Mariposa | $810,000 | The Hunter Fire was fought by the California Division of Forestry and consumed 562 acres. The cause of the fire was unknown but no fatalities occurred nor were any structures lost. |
| November 2012 | Flood | Mariposa | $25,000 | The Highway Patrol had to close Highway 49 due to flooding. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Mariposa | - | Public report of roadway flooding in the left lane of SR 49 at Smith Rd. in Mariposa. |
| March 2018 | Debris Flow | Mariposa | - | California Highway Patrol reported a mudslide caused a partial closure of State Highway 49 near Bagby. |
| December 2018 | Flood | Mariposa | - | California Highway Patrol reported moving water on Yaqui Gulch road at 4900 block just to the south of State Route 140. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Mariposa | - | California Highway Patrol reported a stranded vehicle on Guadalupe Creek Road near Yaqui Gulch Road with 100 feet of flood water running on both sides. |
| February 2001 | Drought | Mariposa | - | Despite 125% above normal precipitation for the month for the area, and the state in general, below normal seasonal precipitation-to-date continues. The month ended with the statewide water content of its snowpack at 75%. This was an improvement from the start of the month with the total up to that time running at only 60%. |
| January 2006 | Heavy Rain | Mariposa | - | no account filed |
| March 2005 | Heavy Rain | Mariposa | - | no account filed |
| March 2001 | Flood | Mariposa | - | no account filed |
| February 2000 | Flood | Mariposa | - | no account filed |
| February 2000 | Flood | Mariposa | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mormon Bar | 1.8 miles | 25 | |
| Agua Fria | 2.9 miles | 20 | |
| Bridgeport | 4.1 miles | 20 | |
| Mount Bullion | 4.4 miles | 31 | |
| Bootjack | 4.4 miles | 25 | |
| Midpines | 4.8 miles | 32 | |
| Darrah | 7.3 miles | 35 | |
| Catheys Valley | 7.9 miles | 20 |
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 Mariposa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2396842 | 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 1659063. 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.







