Squirrel Mountain Valley, California
28 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Lake Isabella census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93240. It lies near Lynch Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Lake Isabella South quadrangle. 760 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,900 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1906 to 1978The same ground, surveyed 72 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 figuresSquirrel Mountain Valley grew from 547 to 760 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 | 547 | |
| 2020 | 760 | +213 (+39%) |
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.
- 1906 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000
- 1908 USGS Kernville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1943 USGS Isabella quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1943 USGS Isabella Dam quadrangle1:62500
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Lake Isabella South quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Isabella Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
432 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 432 fires within 5 miles of Squirrel Mountain Valley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 60,037 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 29 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 | 193 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 50 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 40 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 38 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 29 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 22 |
| Fireworks | 19 |
| Natural | 15 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Other causes | 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 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | Sequoia National Forest | AUXILLARY |
| 9 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Central California District | UNNAMED FIRE 1069 |
| 8 September 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Kern County Fire Department | not named |
| 8 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | LAKE |
| 7 September 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | GULCH |
| 6 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.4 acres | Central California District | FORK |
| 6 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | HUNGRY |
| 6 September 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | HUNGRY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 50 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 50 workings within 5 miles of Squirrel Mountain Valley: 24 past producers, 11 occurrences, 7 producers, 5 prospects. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Uranium. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Jack | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Black Jack | Zinc, Lead, Tin | Producer | ||
| Black Jack | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Cook Peak Deposit | Stone, Dimension | Past Producer | ||
| Fidgie Group | Tungsten, Molybdenum | Occurrence | Molybdenite, Powellite, Scheelite | |
| French Gulch | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Isabella Readimix Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Jenette-Grant Mine | Gold, Antimony, Copper, Tin, Zinc | Past Producer | ||
| Laurel Group of Mines | Copper, Zinc, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | Replacement | |
| Laurel Mine | Gold, Zinc, Silver, Copper | Past Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Mesa | 1.1 miles | 28 | |
| South Lake | 2.5 miles | 28 | |
| Lake Isabella | 3.4 miles | 28 | |
| Scovern Hot Springs (historical) | 3.4 miles | 28 | |
| Isabella (historical) | 3.5 miles | 28 | |
| Bodfish | 5.0 miles | 28 | |
| Bella Vista | 5.0 miles | 28 | |
| Keyesville | 5.4 miles | 25 |
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 Squirrel Mountain Valley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2554100 | 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 1661499. 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.











