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Pioneer, California

28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Pine Grove-Silver Lake census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95666. The Survey maps it on the West Point quadrangle. 1,066 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,986 feet above sea level.

Pioneer within Amador County

Then and now

1889 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Pioneer, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Pioneer, surveyed 1889

On record in Pioneer

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

Pioneer fell from 1,094 to 1,066 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
20101,094
20201,066-28 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 28 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

555 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 555 fires within 5 miles of Pioneer between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,070 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 36 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/undetermined176
Debris and open burning173
Equipment and vehicle use88
Arson/incendiarism36
Misuse of fire by a minor22
Recreation and ceremony17
Power generation/transmission/distribution15
Smoking14
Natural12
Other causes2

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
9 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionLODGE
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitMAIN
9 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictPINEWOOD
8 September 2017Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionMADRONE LN BUCKHORN
6 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionSMITTY
6 September 2010Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitEZELLA CT PIONEER
6 September 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAmador-El Dorado UnitDIAMOND
6 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictPIONEER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Amador County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 415 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 415 workings within 5 miles of Pioneer: 154 occurrences, 143 past producers, 94 unknowns, 19 producers. 19 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Manganese, Silver, Copper. 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
AjaxSilver, Gold, LeadProducer
AjaxGold, Lead, SilverUnknown
Arroyo Seco Ione Lateritic DepositIronOccurrence
BeldenGold, Lead, Zinc, IronPast Producer1855
Big PineSilver, Gold, Copper, LeadPast ProducerGold
Dane and MitchellFluorine-FluoriteUnknown
DefenderGold, Lead, Zinc, Copper, IronPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
ElkhornGold, Copper, ZincPast ProducerBornite, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Jackass GulchAbrasiveUnknown
Stirnaman MineManganese, SilicaPast Producer1917

Every working recorded in Amador County

Storms near this place

4 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pioneer in 4 storm reports between 2013 and 2022: 3 flood, 1 hail. 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
December 2022FloodPioneer-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding near Pioneer School this morning, at SR88 and Defender Grade Road. Some rainfall totals over 24 hours were 3.44 inches at Mount Zion, 3.10 inches at Fiddletown 3.5 SE and 2.88 inches at Pioneer.
April 2020FloodPioneer-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding between State Route 88 and Raven Road in Pioneer, CA. Eastbound lanes are completely flooded. Westbound lanes are partially flooded.
February 2019FloodPioneer-Caltrans reported that both lanes of the road were flooded. At 10:46am Caltrans reported that the flooding was caused by debris build up.
March 2013HailPioneer-Thunderstorms developed in Northern San Joaquin Valley and moved into the Southern Sacramento Valley and Motherlode. At approximately 1:00 AM PDT, a severe thunderstorm moved through Pioneer and dropped quarter size hail. A citizen reported the hail size and image to KCRA media.

Every storm recorded in Amador 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
Buckhorn2.7 miles28
Barton2.7 miles28
Volcano3.2 miles28
Pine Acres4.5 miles28
Pine Grove4.8 miles28
Irishtown (historical)6.2 miles28
Clinton6.4 miles28
Dew Drop (historical)7.3 miles30

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 PioneerAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2411171The 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 230751. 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.