Rutherford, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the St. Helena census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94573. It stands on Bale Slough. The Survey maps it on the Rutherford quadrangle. 115 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 174 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1902 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Rutherford
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
Atkinson Houselisted 1990
Population over time
2 figuresRutherford fell from 164 to 115 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 164 | |
| 2020 | 115 | -49 (-30%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 25 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1902 USGS Napa quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1942 USGS Sonoma quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Rutherford quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1951 USGS Sonoma quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Napa quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
179 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 179 fires within 5 miles of Rutherford between 1992 and 2020, burning about 57,608 acres in total. 2 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/undetermined | 82 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 56 |
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | PG+E |
| 5 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | SMOKEY OAK |
| 3 September 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | BIEDERBECK |
| 28 September 1998 | Smoking | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | WILSON |
| 28 September 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | WHITEHALL |
| 25 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 29 acres | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | CONN |
| 25 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | SILVERADO |
| 23 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit | ARNOLD |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 32 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Rutherford: 13 occurrences, 7 producers, 6 prospects, 4 past producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Mercury, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Manganese, Perlite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diatomite Occurrence | Diatomite | Past Producer | ||
| McLaughlin Mine | Silver, Gold, Mercury, Antimony, Arsenic, Titanium, Metal, Tungsten, Boron-Borates | Producer | 1978, 1985 | |
| Napa Valley Stone | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Search Group | Copper | Prospect | ||
| Sullinger Claim | Chromium | Prospect | ||
| Unnamed Location | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Annadel Farm | Perlite | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Perlite | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Location | Perlite | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
5 since 2012Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rutherford in 5 storm reports between 2012 and 2016: 3 heavy rain, 1 flood, 1 debris flow. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2016 | Debris Flow | Rutherford | - | Heavy rain causes a debris/rock flow along SR 128 (Sage Canyon Road) near Saint Helena. both lanes on SR 128 covered by debris and rocks. |
| February 2015 | Flood | Rutherford | - | Roadway flooding reported on highway 128. |
| September 2014 | Heavy Rain | Rutherford | - | Rainfall accumulated in only 20 minutes. Lightning and thunder reported by observer. |
| November 2012 | Heavy Rain | Rutherford | - | Observations at Conn Dam measured heavy rainfall. Minor urban and small stream flooding was observed across Napa County due to the heavy rainfall. |
| November 2012 | Heavy Rain | Rutherford | - | Heavy rainfall measured at Conn Dam. Minor flooding of urban areas and small streams was observed across Napa County during this event. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakville | 1.8 miles | 25 | |
| Zinfandel | 2.0 miles | 25 | |
| Thoman | 2.7 miles | 25 | |
| Saint Helena | 4.1 miles | 21 | |
| Caymus (historical) | 4.8 miles | 25 | |
| Yountville | 5.1 miles | 25 | |
| Krug | 5.2 miles | 21 | |
| Enchanted Hills | 5.2 miles | 25 |
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 Rutherford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3111096 | The 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 1659563. 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.









