O'Brien, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Sacramento Canyon census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96051. It stands on O'Brien Mountain. The Survey maps it on the O'Brien quadrangle. It stands 1,234 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1890 to 1998The same ground, surveyed 108 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1890 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 28 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.
- 1890 USGS Red Bluff quadrangle1:250000
- 1894 USGS Red Bluff quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1901 USGS Redding quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1946 USGS Lamoine quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Lamoine quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Redding quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1969 USGS Lamoine quadrangle1:62500
- 1984 USGS Redding quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1990 USGS O'Brien quadrangle1:24000
- 1998 USGS O'Brien 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 O'Brien between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,034 acres in total. 37 started naturally. 29 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 87 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 62 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 42 |
| Natural | 37 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Debris and open burning | 23 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 |
| Fireworks | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 5 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 5 |
| Other causes | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Shasta-Trinity Unit | PLAINS |
| 8 September 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | COLD |
| 8 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | GILMAN |
| 8 September 1994 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | not named |
| 7 September 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 343 acres | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | ELMORE |
| 6 September 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | KAM |
| 6 September 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | AUSTIN |
| 6 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Shasta-Trinity National Forest | BAILEY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 53 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 53 workings within 5 miles of O'Brien: 23 occurrences, 10 past producers, 7 producers, 7 prospects. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Copper, Iron, Barium-Barite, Limestone, General. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Diamond Group | Copper, Silver, Gold | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Blue Jacket | Gold, Copper, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Haley Group | Silver, Gold, Copper | Occurrence | Bornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Pyrite | |
| Kane and Wilbur | Copper, Iron, Nickel | Occurrence | Chalcopyrite, Magnetite, Pyrite, Pyrrhotite | |
| Minnie Haley | Copper, Gold, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Occurrence | Silica | Occurrence | ||
| Trask | Calcium | Past Producer | ||
| Gray Rocks Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer | ||
| Pit River Consolidated | Manganese | Producer | Residual | |
| Shasta Copper Mines | Manganese | Past Producer | 1917 |
Storms near this place
1 since 2025Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names O'Brien in 1 storm report in 2025: 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 2025 | Flood | O Brien | - | California Highway Patrol reported standing water on Interstate 5 at Pit River Bridge from heavy rain. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday Harbor Resort | 1.0 miles | 28 | |
| Lakeview Resort | 1.7 miles | 28 | |
| Baird (historical) | 2.0 miles | 28 | |
| Mabel (historical) | 3.2 miles | 29 | |
| Elmore (historical) | 3.8 miles | 29 | |
| Morley (historical) | 3.9 miles | 29 | |
| Sugarloaf | 5.0 miles | 29 | |
| Portal Inn | 5.3 miles | 30 |
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 O'Brien | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7071664 | 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 1659769. 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.









