Searles Valley, California
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Searles Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93562. The Survey maps it on the Trona West quadrangle. 1,565 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,090 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1915 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresSearles Valley fell from 1,739 to 1,565 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 | 1,739 | |
| 2020 | 1,565 | -174 (-10%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 24 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.
- 1915 USGS Searles Lake quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1947 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Trona quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1950 USGS Trona quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1960 USGS Trona quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Trona West quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Ridgecrest quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
15 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 15 fires within 5 miles of Searles Valley between 1995 and 2020, burning about 26 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 | 12 |
| Debris and open burning | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 August 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 21 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | California Desert District | HORSE |
| 20 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Bernardino Unit | not named |
| 19 July 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | California Desert District | TECATE |
| 9 June 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 1 June 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | CHRISTMAS |
| 5 May 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Desert District | CORRAL FIRE |
| 18 May 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 21 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Searles Valley: 10 occurrences, 5 producers, 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Iron, Salt, Silver, Gold, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argus Evaporators | Boron-Borates | Producer | ||
| Lone Wolf Complex | Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Silica, Sulfur | Past Producer | 1938 | |
| Searles Lake | Sodium, Sodium Carbonate, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Soda Ash, Boron-Borates, Potassium, Sodium Sulfate, Lithium | Producer | 1863, 1873 | |
| Searles Lake | Bromine, Tungsten, Lithium | Occurrence | Brine | |
| Searles Lake | Tungsten | Occurrence | ||
| Searles Lake | Potassium, Sodium, Salt, Lithium, Tungsten, Boron-Borates | Unknown | Surface | |
| Searles Lake Deposit | Sodium, Salt, Potassium, Potash, Boron-Borates, Tungsten, Lithium | Plant | 1862, 1873 | |
| Un-Named Prospect | Silver, Gold, Copper, Iron, Sulfur | Occurrence | Malachite | |
| Un-Named Prospect | Copper, Iron, Silica, Sulfur | Occurrence | 1939 | |
| Argus Queen | Gold, Silver | Occurrence |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argus | 1.5 miles | 23 | |
| Trona | 1.7 miles | 24 | |
| Borosolvay | 2.2 miles | 23 | |
| Pioneer Point | 2.5 miles | 24 | |
| South Trona | 3.6 miles | 23 | |
| Westend | 4.2 miles | 23 | |
| Skytop | 6.8 miles | 23 | |
| Spangler | 15.3 miles | 23 |
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 Searles Valley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1013444 | 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 1867056. 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.









