Murphys, California
34 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2001. It stands in the Angels City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95247. It lies near Pennsylvania Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Murphys quadrangle. 1,995 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,172 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 2001The same ground, surveyed 110 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1891 against another survey:
On record in Murphys
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 2 records
Murphys Grammar Schoollisted 1973
Murphys Hotellisted 1971
Population over time
2 figuresMurphys fell from 2,213 to 1,995 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 | 2,213 | |
| 2020 | 1,995 | -218 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 34 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 Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Big Trees quadrangle1:125000, 9 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1948 USGS Murphys quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Murphys quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1993 USGS San Andreas quadrangle1:100000
- 2001 USGS Murphys quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
312 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 312 fires within 5 miles of Murphys between 1992 and 2020, burning about 912 acres in total. 22 started naturally. 30 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 | 106 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 64 |
| Debris and open burning | 63 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 30 |
| Natural | 22 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 8 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Fireworks | 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 2011 | Natural | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | BLUFF |
| 9 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4.0 acres | Central California Area Office | NINE |
| 9 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | LIGHTNING 4 |
| 9 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | POAG |
| 7 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | CAMP |
| 6 September 2012 | Natural | 7.5 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | 2-7 |
| 6 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | WALTERS |
| 6 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | HWY 4 #8 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 492 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 492 workings within 5 miles of Murphys: 188 occurrences, 155 past producers, 108 unknowns, 37 producers. 37 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Manganese, Gold, Silver, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cataract Slurry Plant | Calcium | Producer | ||
| Collier Mine | Gold, Zinc, Silver, Copper, Lead, Antimony | Past Producer | Antimony, Gold, Sphalerite | |
| Dodson | Gold, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena | |
| Douglas Flat | Gold, Platinum | Producer | 1848 | |
| Douglas Flat | Gold, PGE | Unknown | ||
| Madrid Mine | Chromium, Iron | Past Producer | 1916, 1917 | |
| Marjon | Cobalt, Nickel | Occurrence | Vein | |
| Murphy Divide Mine | Gold, Silver, Lead | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Oro Plata Mine | Antimony | Occurrence | ||
| Oro Y Plata | Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Tin, Zinc, Mercury | Past Producer | Cinnabar, Gold, Stibnite |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyldewood | 0.6 miles | 34 | |
| Rocky Hill | 0.7 miles | 34 | |
| Douglas Flat | 1.6 miles | 37 | |
| Big Valley | 1.7 miles | 34 | |
| La Honda Park | 2.3 miles | 37 | |
| Indian Creek | 3.3 miles | 34 | |
| Vallecito | 3.3 miles | 37 | |
| Cedar Vista | 3.5 miles | 34 |
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 Murphys | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1978709 | 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 277560. 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.












