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Santa Margarita, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Atascadero census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93453. It lies near Chalk Hill. The Survey maps it on the Santa Margarita quadrangle. 1,291 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,014 feet above sea level.

Santa Margarita within San Luis Obispo County

Then and now

1897 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 84 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Santa Margarita, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Santa Margarita, surveyed 1897

On record in Santa Margarita

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

Santa Margarita grew from 1,259 to 1,291 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
20101,259
20201,291+32 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 27 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

253 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 253 fires within 5 miles of Santa Margarita between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,133 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 6 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
Equipment and vehicle use110
Missing data/not specified/undetermined101
Debris and open burning16
Smoking8
Power generation/transmission/distribution6
Arson/incendiarism6
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1

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 2019Power generation/transmission/distribution2.1 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitEL CAMINO REAL SLO_CO
8 September 2014Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitRANCH
8 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitBARBARA
7 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitVEGFIRE
5 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitEMS3CDF/
5 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitCUESTA
30 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresSan Luis Obispo Unitnot named
30 September 2000Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitGRADE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 54 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 54 workings within 5 miles of Santa Margarita: 23 past producers, 15 prospects, 8 occurrences, 7 producers. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Chromium, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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
Questa ProspectChromium, Platinum, Palladium, Iridium, Ruthenium, RhodiumOccurrenceChromite
Santa Margarita Platinum OccurrencePlatinumOccurrence
Santa Margarita Ranch Shell Dep.CalciumPast Producer
Seeley GroupIron, ChromiumPast Producer1880
Unnamed ProspectFeldspar, MicaProspect
Unnamed ProspectMercuryProspect
Unnamed ShaftGoldProspect
Outpost Nos. 1 & 2 ClaimsChromium, IronProspect1880
Pick and Shovel MineChromium, IronPast Producer1880
San Luis ObispoNickelOccurrence

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Storms near this place

3 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Margarita in 3 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 1 heavy rain, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. 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 2023Flash FloodSanta Margarita-Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding on Las Pilitas Road near Lake Santa Margarita. The bridge was impassable due to flooding.
March 2001HailSanta Margarita-no account filed
February 1996Heavy RainSanta Margarita-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Luis Obispo 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
Garden Farms1.9 miles27
Cushing2.5 miles27
Thyle3.6 miles31
Dove (historical)4.4 miles29
Serrano4.5 miles31
Eaglet (historical)4.6 miles27
Poloma (historical)4.9 miles29
Chorro5.7 miles31

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 Santa MargaritaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3476162The 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 249075. 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.