Smith River, California
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Smith River-Gasquet census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95567. It stands on Dominie Creek. The Survey maps it on the Smith River quadrangle. 906 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 52 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1929 to 1996The same ground, surveyed 67 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1929 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresSmith River grew from 866 to 906 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 | 866 | |
| 2020 | 906 | +40 (+5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 18 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.
- 1929 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:125000
- 1945 USGS Point St. George quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Smith River quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Eureka quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Smith River quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Crescent City quadrangle1:100000
- 1996 USGS Smith River quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
78 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Smith River between 1992 and 2019, burning about 74 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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 | 39 |
| Debris and open burning | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | SMITH |
| 6 September 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | LOW |
| 5 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | DIVIDE |
| 4 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | PACIFIC |
| 3 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | PELICAN |
| 3 September 2004 | Smoking | under an acre | Northern California District | CASINO |
| 3 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | MILLER |
| 28 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | LUCKY 7 CASINO SMITH_RIVE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 28 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 28 workings within 5 miles of Smith River: 13 producers, 7 past producers, 6 occurrences, 2 unknowns. 13 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Stone, Chromium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Divide Area | Nickel | Occurrence | 1955 | |
| Mountain View Mine | Chromium, Iron | Past Producer | 1869 | |
| Crescent City Rock & Sand Co. | Stone | Occurrence | ||
| Mountain Quarries and Mill | Stone | Producer | ||
| Mountain Quarries and Mill | Stone | Producer | ||
| Mountain View | Chromium | Past Producer | ||
| Mountain View High Divide, Tyson | Chromium | Occurrence | Chromite | |
| Mountain View Mines | Chromium | Past Producer | 1869, 1955 | |
| Unknown | Gold | Occurrence | Placer | |
| Unnamed Location | Gold | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
2 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Smith River in 2 storm reports between 1996 and 2016: 1 tornado, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Smith River | $2,000 | no account filed |
| October 2016 | Flash Flood | Smith River | - | A public report including photos through social media indicated flooding was occurring on Fred Haight Drive in Smith River after 10-12 inches of rain fell across the county over the previous three days. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yontocket | 3.1 miles | 18 | |
| Khoonkhwuttunne (historical) | 3.3 miles | 18 | |
| Tryon Corner | 3.5 miles | 18 | |
| Fort Dick | 4.2 miles | 21 | |
| Pacific Shores | 5.8 miles | 21 | |
| Adams Station | 10.1 miles | 21 | |
| Hiouchi | 10.2 miles | 16 | |
| Rockland | 10.5 miles | 22 |
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 Smith River | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7545295 | 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 1659799. 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.










