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.
Then and now
1889 to 1993The 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.


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
- Kirkwood Lake Tractlisted 2009
Population over time
2 figuresPioneer 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,094 | |
| 2020 | 1,066 | -28 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 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.
- 1889 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Jackson quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mokelumne Hill quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS West Point quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1949 USGS West Point quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1993 USGS San Andreas quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
555 since 1992Regional 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/undetermined | 176 |
| Debris and open burning | 173 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 88 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 36 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 22 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 17 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 15 |
| Smoking | 14 |
| Natural | 12 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | LODGE |
| 9 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit | MAIN |
| 9 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | PINEWOOD |
| 8 September 2017 | Smoking | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | MADRONE LN BUCKHORN |
| 6 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | SMITTY |
| 6 September 2010 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | EZELLA CT PIONEER |
| 6 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Amador-El Dorado Unit | DIAMOND |
| 6 September 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | PIONEER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 415 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax | Silver, Gold, Lead | Producer | ||
| Ajax | Gold, Lead, Silver | Unknown | ||
| Arroyo Seco Ione Lateritic Deposit | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Belden | Gold, Lead, Zinc, Iron | Past Producer | 1855 | |
| Big Pine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Dane and Mitchell | Fluorine-Fluorite | Unknown | ||
| Defender | Gold, Lead, Zinc, Copper, Iron | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Elkhorn | Gold, Copper, Zinc | Past Producer | Bornite, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite | |
| Jackass Gulch | Abrasive | Unknown | ||
| Stirnaman Mine | Manganese, Silica | Past Producer | 1917 |
Storms near this place
4 since 2013Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 | Flood | Pioneer | - | 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 2020 | Flood | Pioneer | - | 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 2019 | Flood | Pioneer | - | 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 2013 | Hail | Pioneer | - | 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. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buckhorn | 2.7 miles | 28 | |
| Barton | 2.7 miles | 28 | |
| Volcano | 3.2 miles | 28 | |
| Pine Acres | 4.5 miles | 28 | |
| Pine Grove | 4.8 miles | 28 | |
| Irishtown (historical) | 6.2 miles | 28 | |
| Clinton | 6.4 miles | 28 | |
| Dew Drop (historical) | 7.3 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 Pioneer | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2411171 | 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 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.











