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Olancha, California

29 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Lone Pine census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93549. It stands on Olancha Creek. The Survey maps it on the Olancha quadrangle. 131 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,658 feet above sea level.

Olancha within Inyo County

Then and now

1905 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 89 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Olancha, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Olancha, surveyed 1905

On record in Olancha

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 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Olancha fell from 192 to 131 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.

YearPeople Change
2010192
2020131-61 (-32%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 29 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

29 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 29 fires within 5 miles of Olancha between 1992 and 2019, burning about 2,158 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 2 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
Natural9
Equipment and vehicle use7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Arson/incendiarism2
Other causes2
Smoking1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictDIRTY SOCK
29 September 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictWALKER
18 September 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictOLANCHA
10 September 1997Natural55 acresInyo National ForestTUNAWEE
30 August 2017Naturalunder an acreInyo National ForestOLANCHA
30 August 1998Naturalunder an acreInyo National ForestOAK
24 August 1995Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Desert DistrictOLANCHA
14 August 1998Naturalunder an acreInyo National ForestNINEMILE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Inyo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Olancha: 3 producers, 3 past producers, 3 prospects, 2 unknowns. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Sodium, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Caffee Manganese MineManganeseProspect
Olancna MillClayPast Producer
TateTungstenUnknown
Unnamed ProspectPumicePast Producer
Valley View ClaimUraniumProspect
OlanchaCopperUnknown
Owens Lake MineSodiumProspect
Owens Lake PitSodiumPast Producer
Unnamed OccurrenceCopperOccurrence
Materials Site #165Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Inyo County

Storms near this place

9 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Olancha in 9 storm reports between 2005 and 2025: 7 flash flood, 2 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2022Flash FloodOlancha$10,000Both sides of Hwy 395 were flooded near Olancha Ln. Later reports noted large boulders in the road, and stated that the road was flexing from the water.
December 2010Flash FloodOlancha$10,000At least a foot of water flowed across Highway 395 south of Olancha. The ending time is estimated.
November 2025Flash FloodOlancha$5,000Highway 190 was closed between Olancha and Highway 136 due to excessive amounts of debris in the road. The time of occurrence was estimated.
March 2019Flash FloodOlancha$2,000Water, mud, and debris flowed over Highway 395 near Olancha.
January 2023FloodOlancha$1,000Highway 190 was closed from mile marker 4 to Highway 136. The flooding is believed to be from runoff draining down toward the Owens Dry Lake bed after heavy rain fell in the mountains hours earlier.
June 2020Flash FloodOlancha$1,000Flood waters nearly washed away a vehicle on Highway 190 two to three miles east of Highway 395.
January 2019Flash FloodOlancha$1,000Highway 395 was flooded at Olancha.
January 2017FloodOlancha-Water was over Highway 395 in two places near Olancha, but the road was still passable.
February 2005Flash FloodOlancha-Heavy rains caused flooding along US 395 in Olancha.

Every storm recorded in Inyo County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Grant1.9 miles26
Cartago2.9 miles29
Haiwee9.5 miles28
Bartlett13.5 miles30
Dunmovin13.6 miles28
Talus13.6 miles28
Keeler15.8 miles27
Coso Junction16.6 miles28

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 OlanchaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2510895The 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 272775. 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.