Molus, California
22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the Gonzales census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93960. The Survey maps it on the Palo Escrito Peak quadrangle. It stands 167 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1910 to 1982The same ground, surveyed 72 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1910 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 22 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.
- 1910 USGS Soledad quadrangle1:31680
- 1915 USGS Soledad quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1940 USGS Soledad quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Palo Escrito Peak quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
130 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 130 fires within 5 miles of Molus between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,360 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 10 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 | 65 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 31 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 7 |
| Natural | 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 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.1 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | ELAM |
| 8 September 2012 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | ENCINAL |
| 6 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2.0 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | SOLEDAD HIGH SCHOOL SOLED |
| 5 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | MISSION WY SOLEDAD_CITY |
| 29 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | GABILAN DR SOLEDAD_CITY |
| 11 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9.6 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | GLORIA |
| 11 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | PINNACLES |
| 11 September 2017 | Natural | 4.2 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | JOHNSON |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
3 since 2016Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Molus in 3 storm reports between 2016 and 2024: 3 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 2024 | Flood | Molus | $10 | Flooding was reported in the number 1 lane of southbound US Highway 101 north of the Correctional Training Facility between Gonzales and Soledad. |
| January 2021 | Flood | Molus | - | Flooding on River Rd at Fairview Rd. |
| October 2016 | Flood | Molus | - | Heavy rain causes flooding on US Highway 101 near Soledad. North Bound lane #2 closed. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camphora | 1.6 miles | 20 | |
| Gonzales | 3.8 miles | 24 | |
| Soledad | 4.7 miles | 20 | |
| Dean | 5.1 miles | 24 | |
| Fort Romie | 5.3 miles | 20 | |
| Gabilan (historical) | 7.6 miles | 24 | |
| Harlem | 8.8 miles | 20 | |
| Chualar | 9.7 miles | 26 |
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 Q6896904 | 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 1661047. 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.
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.










