BlockBefore

Pulga, California

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Feather Falls census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95965. It stands on Flea Valley Creek. The Survey maps it on the Pulga quadrangle. It stands 1,398 feet above sea level.

Pulga within Butte County

Then and now

1888 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 106 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Pulga, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Pulga, surveyed 1888

Compare 1888 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 25 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

140 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 140 fires within 5 miles of Pulga between 1992 and 2020, burning about 161,893 acres in total. 30 started naturally. 8 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/undetermined49
Natural30
Equipment and vehicle use24
Debris and open burning14
Arson/incendiarism8
Smoking4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Recreation and ceremony2

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
4 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreButte UnitWINDERMERE 2
29 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreButte UnitPULGA
28 September 2016Natural1.5 acresPlumas National ForestPULGA
28 September 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreButte UnitCONCOW
27 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreButte Unit70
27 September 2005Naturalunder an acrePlumas National ForestSILVER
26 September 2006Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresButte UnitPULGA
25 September 1994Natural1.0 acresButte UnitANDY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butte County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 60 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 60 workings within 5 miles of Pulga: 32 past producers, 16 occurrences, 8 unknowns, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Gold, Nickel, Silver. 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
Jade Prince No. 1GemstoneProspect
Little Hope and Mary Jane ClaimsChromium, IronPast Producer1942
PoeLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Poe Limestone DepositLimestone, General, Marble, DimensionProducerMetamorphic
PoeStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Poe Limestone DepositStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Hard TimesGold, SilverPast Producer
HodappGold, SilverPast Producer
Section 35 MineIron, ChromiumPast Producer1915, 1916
SimmonsIron, ChromiumPast Producer1916, 1917

Every working recorded in Butte County

Storms near this place

7 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pulga in 7 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 4 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2017Debris FlowPulga$4,260,000Rocks, mud, on Highway 70, making the roadway unpassable, as well as a slip out.
December 2025FloodPulga-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindPulga-A PGE weather station on Concow Road at an elevation of 2785 feet reported a 58 MPH wind gust. Prior to this observation the station reported gusts between 35-44 MPH.
November 2018FloodPulga-Storms with heavy rain caused mudslides and debris flows on Highway 70 in the Pulga area. Debris flows clogged drains along the roadway. Trees along on roadway had to be removed. Highway 70 east of the West Branch of the Feather River was closed.
January 2017FloodPulga-Highway 70 was closed from Jarbo Gap to Greenville due to flooding.
October 2008Flash FloodPulga-Cal Fire reported numerous debris flows on Highway 70 due to heavy rain over adjacent areas burned earlier in the year. Several of the flows were located between their fire station and the Pulga Bridge. Cleanup was finished at 1000PST.
July 1997FloodPulga-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butte 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
Big Bar0.6 miles25
Mayaro2.0 miles25
Flea Valley (historical)2.6 miles25
Cresta3.6 miles25
Poe4.2 miles28
Kister4.7 miles24
Hughes Place5.7 miles28
Deadwood5.8 miles29

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 PulgaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3475295The 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 1659439. 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.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.