BlockBefore

Port Costa, California

36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the West Contra Costa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94569. It lies near Big Bull Valley. The Survey maps it on the Benicia quadrangle. 190 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.

Port Costa within Contra Costa County

Then and now

1896 to 1983

The same ground, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Port Costa, surveyed 1983
Topographic sheet of Port Costa, surveyed 1896

Compare 1896 against another survey:

On record in Port Costa

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

Port Costa grew from 190 to 190 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
2010190
20201900 (0%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 36 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

497 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 497 fires within 5 miles of Port Costa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,027 acres in total. None started naturally. 65 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/undetermined294
Arson/incendiarism65
Equipment and vehicle use57
Smoking31
Misuse of fire by a minor26
Debris and open burning10
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Recreation and ceremony1
Fireworks1

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 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2003Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSanta Clara UnitFOUR
8 September 2005Smoking1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
7 September 2011Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
7 September 2010Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 1995Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresSanta Clara UnitPG&E ALHAMBRA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Contra Costa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Port Costa: 8 unknowns, 5 occurrences, 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Unnamed LocationClayOccurrence
Main Mine & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
MartinezStone, DimensionOccurrence
McnearsStone, DimensionOccurrence
Port Costa Shale QuarrysStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Borges ProspectMercuryOccurrenceCinnabar
Borges ProspectMercuryUnknown
Brownlie ProspectMercuryUnknown
HastingsMercuryUnknown

Every working recorded in Contra Costa 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
Eckley1.2 miles36
Crockett1.6 miles36
Ozol1.7 miles36
Crolona Heights2.0 miles36
Valona2.2 miles36
Martinez3.2 miles36
Christie3.2 miles36
Selby3.3 miles36

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 Port CostaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2485007The 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 230948. 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.