BlockBefore

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.

Ponderosa within Tulare County

Then and now

1904 to 1987

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Ponderosa, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of Ponderosa, surveyed 1904

Compare 1904 against another survey:

Population over time

2 figures

Ponderosa 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.

YearPeople Change
201016
202051+35 (+219%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 27 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

77 since 1992

Regional 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
Natural41
Recreation and ceremony13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Smoking5
Arson/incendiarism2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Other causes1

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 2009Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestPEPPERMINT
9 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSequoia National ForestASPEN
8 September 2013Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestDURRWOOD 2
7 September 2001Naturalunder an acreSequoia National ForestSLATE
5 September 2000Smokingunder an acreSequoia National ForestLODGE
4 September 2003Naturalunder an acreSequoia National ForestSLATE
3 September 2001Naturalunder an acreSequoia National ForestFREEMAN
3 September 1998Naturalunder an acreSequoia National ForestSNAG

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tulare County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Mable H. Quartz ClaimQuartzProspect

Every working recorded in Tulare 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
Quaker Meadow1.4 miles27
Cedar Slope3.8 miles28
Camp Nelson5.0 miles28
Smith Mill7.0 miles26
Johnsondale9.1 miles22
Wheatons10.5 miles26
Redwood Corral11.1 miles22
Roads End12.4 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 PonderosaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6082414The 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.