Ponderosa, California
27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1987. It stands in the Springville-Johnsondale census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93265. It lies near Holby Meadow. The Survey maps it on the Sentinel Peak quadrangle. 51 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,231 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1904 to 1987The same ground, surveyed 83 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1904 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresPonderosa grew from 16 to 51 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 | 16 | |
| 2020 | 51 | +35 (+219%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 27 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.
- 1904 USGS Kaweah quadrangle1:125000
- 1909 USGS Kaweah quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1937 USGS Kaweah quadrangle1:125000
- 1948 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000
- 1955 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Camp Nelson quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Fresno quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS Three Rivers quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1987 USGS Sentinel Peak quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
77 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Ponderosa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,606 acres in total. 41 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 41 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
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 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | PEPPERMINT |
| 9 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | ASPEN |
| 8 September 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | DURRWOOD 2 |
| 7 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | SLATE |
| 5 September 2000 | Smoking | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | LODGE |
| 4 September 2003 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | SLATE |
| 3 September 2001 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | FREEMAN |
| 3 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | SNAG |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Ponderosa: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Quartz. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mable H. Quartz Claim | Quartz | Prospect |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quaker Meadow | 1.4 miles | 27 | |
| Cedar Slope | 3.8 miles | 28 | |
| Camp Nelson | 5.0 miles | 28 | |
| Smith Mill | 7.0 miles | 26 | |
| Johnsondale | 9.1 miles | 22 | |
| Wheatons | 10.5 miles | 26 | |
| Redwood Corral | 11.1 miles | 22 | |
| Roads End | 12.4 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 Ponderosa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6082414 | 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 1667610. 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.












