Motor City, California
33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1976. It stands in the North El Dorado census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95667. It lies near Fruit Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Camino quadrangle. It stands 2,323 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 1976The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Motor City
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 within a mile 1 record
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
- Eddy Tree Breeding Stationlisted 1987 · 0.4 miles away
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 33 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.
- 1891 USGS Placerville quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Placerville quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Placerville quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1952 USGS Camino quadrangle1:24000, 8 printings
- 1952 USGS Camino quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1976 USGS Placerville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
808 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 808 fires within 5 miles of Motor City between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,270 acres in total. 13 started naturally. 37 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 | 279 |
| Debris and open burning | 231 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 169 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 37 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 31 |
| Smoking | 25 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 17 |
| Natural | 13 |
| Other causes | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
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 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | SERVICE |
| 9 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | BOEGER WINERY PLACERVILLE |
| 9 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 1971 |
| 9 September 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | GATLIN |
| 9 September 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | PANORAMA |
| 9 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | WEBER |
| 8 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Amador-El Dorado Unit | 25 ECF SACRAMENTO ST PLAC |
| 8 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | MHER-MARSHALL HOSPITAL PL |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 572 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 572 workings within 5 miles of Motor City: 293 occurrences, 172 unknowns, 91 past producers, 16 producers. 16 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Slate, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Springs Li | Calcium | Unknown | ||
| Grand Victory | Gold, Antimony | Past Producer | Surface/Underground | |
| Old Gravel Mine | Germanium | Unknown | ||
| Oregon | Gold, Arsenic, Lead | Occurrence | ||
| Pacific Quartz | Gold, Arsenic, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Placerite Quarry and Mill | Stone | Producer | ||
| Placerville District | Gold, Platinum | Past Producer | 1848 | |
| Placerville Placers | Gold, Silver | Producer | Placer | |
| Unknown | Gemstone | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Abrasive | Unknown |
Storms near this place
1 since 2022Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Motor City in 1 storm report in 2022: 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 | Flood | Motor City | $100,000 | CHP Placerville reported a mudslide through a house. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smithflat | 0.8 miles | 34 | |
| Five Mile Terrace | 1.5 miles | 33 | |
| Camino Heights | 1.5 miles | 33 | |
| Old Fort Jim | 2.0 miles | 33 | |
| Placerville | 3.1 miles | 34 | |
| Indak (historical) | 3.2 miles | 34 | |
| Camino | 3.5 miles | 33 | |
| Newtown | 3.8 miles | 33 |
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 Q6918111 | 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 263882. 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.









