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Rail Road Flat, California

30 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Arnold-West Point census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95245. It lies near Two Dollar Gulch. The Survey maps it on the Rail Road Flat quadrangle. 316 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,608 feet above sea level.

Rail Road Flat within Calaveras County

Then and now

1889 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rail Road Flat, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Rail Road Flat, surveyed 1889

Population over time

2 figures

Rail Road Flat fell from 475 to 316 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
2010475
2020316-159 (-33%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 30 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

362 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 362 fires within 5 miles of Rail Road Flat between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,654 acres in total. 11 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
Debris and open burning128
Missing data/not specified/undetermined106
Equipment and vehicle use68
Misuse of fire by a minor15
Power generation/transmission/distribution12
Natural11
Smoking8
Arson/incendiarism8
Recreation and ceremony5
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 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitMAIN
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictLIGHTNING 23
9 September 1999Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictLIGHTNING 29
8 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionCEDAR WY / JESUS MARIA RD
8 September 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitTAYLOR
6 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionSMITTY
6 September 2004Smoking1.0 acresCentral California DistrictEMIGRANT
6 September 1995Debris and open burningunder an acreTuolumne-Calaveras UnitSEARCY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Calaveras County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 387 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 387 workings within 5 miles of Rail Road Flat: 178 past producers, 108 occurrences, 90 unknowns, 9 producers. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Lead, Silver, Lead, Copper. 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
BlackstoneGold, Lead, Zinc, CopperPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Blazing StarGold, CopperPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrrhotite
DepositsLimestone, DimensionOccurrence
Fine GoldGold, Silver, Copper, LeadPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrite
Forest CreekGold, Lead, Copper, ZincPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Galena, Marcasite, Pyrite, Pyrrhotite, Sphalerite
Golden Shearer MineGold, Lead, ZincPast ProducerGalena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Silver MountainGold, QuartzOccurrence
Gambetta DepositStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Golden StormGold, Copper, SilverPast ProducerGold
Golden StormGold, Copper, SilverProducer

Every working recorded in Calaveras 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
Independence0.4 miles30
Wilseyville2.5 miles28
Sandy Gulch2.8 miles28
Fuchs3.0 miles26
Lynn Park Acres3.2 miles28
Hams3.4 miles26
Glencoe3.9 miles30
West Point3.9 miles28

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 Rail Road FlatAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2376526The 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 255013. 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.