Midpines, California
32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Mariposa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95345. It stands on Plumbar Creek. The Survey maps it on the Feliciana Mountain quadrangle. 379 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,585 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1897 to 2004The same ground, surveyed 107 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 figuresMidpines fell from 1,204 to 379 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 | 1,204 | |
| 2020 | 379 | -825 (-69%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
15 surveys from 32 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.
- 1897 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000
- 1903 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1909 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1947 USGS El Portal quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1947 USGS Feliciana Mtn. quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Feliciana Mtn. quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Feliciana Mtn. quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1976 USGS Yosemite Valley quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1992 USGS Feliciana Mtn. quadrangle1:24000
- 2004 USGS Feliciana Mountain quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
331 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 331 fires within 5 miles of Midpines between 1992 and 2020, burning about 44,726 acres in total. 20 started naturally. 24 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 | 94 |
| Debris and open burning | 92 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 64 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 24 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 20 |
| Natural | 20 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Smoking | 4 |
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 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | COLORADO RD MIDPINES |
| 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 |
| 8 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | MORNING |
| 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 |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | COLORADO |
| 5 September 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 290 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | BRIDGE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 209 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 209 workings within 5 miles of Midpines: 108 past producers, 57 occurrences, 19 prospects, 14 unknowns. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Copper, Manganese. 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 Spring Hill | Magnesite | Occurrence | ||
| Diltz | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | 1865 | |
| Early | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Tungsten | Past Producer | 1884 | |
| Early | Gold, Tungsten, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Feliciana | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| O'Brien Deposit | Limestone, Dimension | Occurrence | ||
| Our Chance | Gold, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Silver | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Unspecified Locality | Mercury, Gold | Past Producer | Amalgam, Gold | |
| Champion Ii | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Kane | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite |
Storms near this place
8 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Midpines in 8 storm reports between 2009 and 2023: 4 debris flow, 2 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2018 | Debris Flow | Midpines | $100,000 | California Highway Patrol reported State Route 140 sliding into the Merced River and a large crack in the road. |
| March 2018 | Debris Flow | Midpines | $100,000 | California Highway Patrol reported large boulders at State Route 140 and Colorado Rd. |
| May 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Midpines | $1,500 | California Highway Patrol reported 3 trees downed across SR 140 near Briceburg. |
| January 2023 | Flood | Midpines | - | Public report of roadway flooding near the auto camp on SR 140 and Colorado Rd. |
| December 2022 | Debris Flow | Midpines | - | California Highway Patrol reported a debris flow with boulders on the roadway on SR 140 5NNW Midpines. |
| December 2022 | Debris Flow | Midpines | - | California Highway Patrol reported a large mudslide blocking the westbound lanes on SR 140 in Midpines. |
| December 2022 | Flood | Midpines | - | California Highway Patrol reported a tree that was washed away landed on the bridge neat the intersection of SR 140 and Oak Rd. blocking all lanes. |
| February 2017 | Flash Flood | Midpines | - | California Highway Patrol reported road impassable due to roadway flooding from heavy rainfall and creek overflow on Colorado Road just south of Briceburg. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jerseydale | 3.6 miles | 35 | |
| Mariposa | 4.8 miles | 25 | |
| Briceburg | 4.8 miles | 32 | |
| Darrah | 4.9 miles | 35 | |
| Bootjack | 5.8 miles | 25 | |
| Mormon Bar | 5.9 miles | 25 | |
| Agua Fria | 6.7 miles | 20 | |
| Mount Bullion | 7.1 miles | 31 |
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 Midpines | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6646603 | 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 1656313. 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.














