Spreckels, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1910 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Salinas census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93908. The Survey maps it on the Spreckels quadrangle. 692 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 62 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1910 to 1983The same ground, surveyed 73 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1910 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresSpreckels grew from 673 to 692 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 | 673 | |
| 2020 | 692 | +19 (+3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 28 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.
- 1910 USGS Salinas quadrangle1:31680
- 1912 USGS Salinas quadrangle1:62500, 6 printings
- 1940 USGS Salinas quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Salinas quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1947 USGS Spreckels quadrangle1:24000, 8 printings
- 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
132 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 132 fires within 5 miles of Spreckels between 1992 and 2020, burning about 48,360 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 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 | 72 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 24 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 7 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | RIVER |
| 8 September 2004 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | CABEU004147 |
| 5 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | not named |
| 5 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | San Benito-Monterey Unit | not named |
| 4 September 2005 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Central California District | CELLULAR |
| 30 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 25 September 2019 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | San Benito-Monterey Unit | not named |
| 19 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | 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 20 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Spreckels: 9 producers, 8 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 prospect. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Ameral-Carmel Valley | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Heins Lake | Clay | Occurrence | ||
| Henningsen | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Rianda | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Salinas Brickyard | Clay | Prospect | Sedimentary | |
| Salinas Brickyard | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Henningsen | Stone | Producer | ||
| Henningsen | Stone | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Rianda | Stone | Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2011Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spreckels in 6 storm reports between 2011 and 2021: 4 flood, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2011 | Flood | Spreckels | $1,000,000 | There were 1279 acres of crops or croplands impacted by flooding from the Salinas River and its tributaries (1263 acres of Salinas River acreage and 16 acres from the tributaries). |
| January 2021 | Debris Flow | Spreckels | - | Semi was trying to make a u-turn and got stuck in mud sticking out into the road. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Spreckels | - | Roadway flooding at S Davis Rd and Foster Rd. |
| January 2018 | Flood | Spreckels | - | Roadway flooding reported at intersection of Davis and Hitchcock. |
| March 2018 | Flood | Spreckels | - | Roadway flooding reported at S Davis Road and Foster Road. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Spreckels | - | Mud 1 ft deep over both lanes of River Rd at HWY 68. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Hilltown | 1.4 miles | 27 | |
| Springtown | 1.8 miles | 27 | |
| Creekside | 2.6 miles | 28 | |
| Spreckels Junction | 2.7 miles | 27 | |
| Serra Village | 3.0 miles | 28 | |
| Salinas | 3.9 miles | 27 | |
| Alisal | 4.2 miles | 27 | |
| Spence | 4.3 miles | 26 |
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 Spreckels | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1936715 | 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 1659842. 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.











