BlockBefore

South Oroville, California

25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Oroville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95966. The Survey maps it on the Palermo quadrangle. 3,235 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 187 feet above sea level.

South Oroville within Butte County

Then and now

1888 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of South Oroville, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of South Oroville, surveyed 1888

Population over time

2 figures

South Oroville fell from 5,742 to 3,235 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
20105,742
20203,235-2,507 (-44%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 25 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

1,446 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,446 fires within 5 miles of South Oroville between 1992 and 2020, burning about 33,245 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 227 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/undetermined575
Equipment and vehicle use324
Arson/incendiarism227
Debris and open burning149
Misuse of fire by a minor107
Smoking27
Power generation/transmission/distribution15
Recreation and ceremony7
Natural7
Railroad operations and maintenance6
Other causes1
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 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionR61D
9 September 2014Arson/incendiarismunder an acreButte UnitBANGOR
9 September 2011Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresButte UnitPALERMO
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresButte UnitLARKIN IC WHITE 3
9 September 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresButte UnitWYNDOTTE
9 September 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreButte UnitFEATHER
8 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreButte UnitGAYLOR AVE ORO
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined14 acresButte UnitLODGEVIEW DR KELLY_RDGE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butte County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 47 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 47 workings within 5 miles of South Oroville: 20 past producers, 12 unknowns, 10 producers, 5 occurrences. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Silver, Gold. 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
Feather River DistrictGold, Iridium, Platinum, OsmiumPast Producer1849, 1895
OrovilleSilver, GoldPast Producer
Oroville DistrictGold, PlatinumPast Producer1849
Unknown NameClayUnknown
AmoGold, SilverPast Producer
Donnie LeeGold, SilverPast Producer
LemrohGold, SilverPast Producer
OrovilleGold, SilverUnknown
Patterson-Inman PropertyGold, SilverPast Producer
Dry Creek PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Butte County

Storms near this place

2 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Oroville in 2 storm reports between 2018 and 2019: 1 heavy rain, 1 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
February 2019FloodSouth Oroville-Oroville Dam Blvd E roadway was flooded and completely blocked.
March 2018Heavy RainSouth Oroville-Heavy rain fell. The 24 hour total rainfall was 1.63.

Every storm recorded in Butte 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
Yuman (historical)1.1 miles29
Oroville1.2 miles29
Lava Beds (historical)1.8 miles25
Thermalito2.1 miles29
Quartz (historical)3.8 miles29
Kramm4.3 miles29
Palermo4.3 miles25
Wyandotte5.2 miles25

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 South OrovilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q940371The 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 1659826. 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.