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Potter Valley, California

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1943 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Redwood Valley-Potter Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95469. It stands on Williams Creek. The Survey maps it on the Potter Valley quadrangle. 665 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 948 feet above sea level.

Potter Valley within Mendocino County

Then and now

1943 to 1996

The same ground, surveyed 53 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Potter Valley, surveyed 1996
Topographic sheet of Potter Valley, surveyed 1943

Compare 1943 against another survey:

On record in Potter Valley

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

Potter Valley grew from 646 to 665 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
2010646
2020665+19 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 14 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

83 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 83 fires within 5 miles of Potter Valley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,442 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 5 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/undetermined28
Equipment and vehicle use21
Debris and open burning18
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Arson/incendiarism5
Natural2
Fireworks1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Smoking1

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/undetermined1.0 acresNorthern California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 3669
8 September 1997Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMendocino UnitWEIR
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMendocino UnitGIBSON
30 September 2008Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMendocino Unitnot named
29 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMendocino UnitHAWN
27 September 2005Naturalunder an acreMendocino UnitVAN ARSDALE
26 September 2005Naturalunder an acreMendocino UnitPOWERHOUSE
2 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresMendocino UnitPOTTER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Mendocino County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 31 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 31 workings within 5 miles of Potter Valley: 10 occurrences, 9 producers, 7 past producers, 4 prospects. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Stone, Manganese, Silica, Silica, Manganese. 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
Oberfeld Shale QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
South ThomasSilica, ManganesePast Producer1915, 1916
Mendocino Co. No.136Manganese, SilicaPast Producer
Thomas MineManganese, SilicaPast Producer1912, 1914
UnknownStoneOccurrence
Unnamed LocationStoneOccurrence
Bevins-BuschManganeseProducerPsilomelane, Pyrolusite
Bevins-Busch ClaimManganesePast Producer1917
FaucherManganeseProducerPsilomelane
Faucher MineManganeseProspect1918

Every working recorded in Mendocino 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
Pomo1.4 miles14
Redwood Valley6.2 miles14
Coyote Valley Rancheria (historical)6.9 miles15
Laughlin7.1 miles14
Calpella7.8 miles15
Ridge10.0 miles15
The Forks10.3 miles15
Vichy Springs11.0 miles15

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 Potter ValleyAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3458782The 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 265005. 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.