Ponderosa Basin, California
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Mariposa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95338. It lies near Cold Spring Meadow. The Survey maps it on the Fish Camp quadrangle. It stands 2,992 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1912 to 2004The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1912 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 23 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.
- 1912 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Bass Lake quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Shaver Lake quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1990 USGS Fish Camp quadrangle1:24000
- 2004 USGS Fish Camp quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
220 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 220 fires within 5 miles of Ponderosa Basin between 1992 and 2020, burning about 15,526 acres in total. 35 started naturally. 14 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 | 68 |
| Debris and open burning | 50 |
| Natural | 35 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 25 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | PILOT PEAK RD / CREEL RD |
| 4 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | TRIANGLE PARK RD LUSH_ME |
| 3 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Merced-Mariposa Unit | WESTFALL |
| 3 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Merced-Mariposa Unit | ROADSIDE |
| 3 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Sierra National Forest | CEDARBROOK |
| 28 September 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.3 acres | Sierra National Forest | LAUREL |
| 27 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.1 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | TRIANGLE |
| 27 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.1 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | TRIANGLE RD LUSH_MEADO 3 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Ponderosa Basin: 2 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Tungsten, Gold, Uranium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bass Lake Area | Uranium | Occurrence | ||
| Paradise | Gold | Unknown | ||
| War Baby | Tungsten | Past Producer | Scheelite | |
| War Baby | Tungsten | Producer | ||
| War Baby | Tungsten | Past Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elliott Corner | 2.1 miles | 28 | |
| Fish Camp | 5.1 miles | 23 | |
| Darrah | 6.4 miles | 35 | |
| Wawona | 6.5 miles | 28 | |
| South Wawona | 7.1 miles | 28 | |
| South Wawona (historical) | 7.2 miles | 28 | |
| North Wawona | 7.4 miles | 28 | |
| North Wawona (historical) | 7.6 miles | 28 |
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.
| Wikidata item Q7227704 | 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 1809330. 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.








