Washington, California
34 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2000. It stands in the Nevada City census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95986. It stands on Washington Creek. The Survey maps it on the Washington quadrangle. 101 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,652 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 2000The same ground, surveyed 109 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 figuresWashington fell from 185 to 101 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 | 185 | |
| 2020 | 101 | -84 (-45%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 34 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.
- 1891 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1898 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1938 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1950 USGS Alleghany quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1950 USGS Washington quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1951 USGS Washington quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 2000 USGS Washington quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
124 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 124 fires within 5 miles of Washington between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,821 acres in total. 36 started naturally. 10 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 36 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 25 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 7 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | CROSSING |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | ALPHA |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.6 acres | Tahoe National Forest | RELIEF |
| 5 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | DAVID |
| 5 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | MISSOURI BAR |
| 4 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | WHITE |
| 4 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit | WHITE CLOUD |
| 30 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Tahoe National Forest | SPANISH #2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 267 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 267 workings within 5 miles of Washington: 113 past producers, 98 occurrences, 45 unknowns, 10 producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Silver, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancho Qtz | Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Arctic Group | Gold, Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Black Squirrel Deposit | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| Erie Con Lode | Gold, Lead, Copper | Past Producer | Gold, Pyrite | |
| Gaston Ridge | Gold, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Gold | |
| Mohawk? | Antimony | Occurrence | ||
| Paine Claims Neva May and Genevieve | Mineral Pigments | Occurrence | Mineral Pigments | |
| Red Ledge Mine | Chromium, Iron | Past Producer | 1916 | |
| Relief Hill | Gold, Platinum, Titanium, Metal, Chromium | Producer | 1851 | |
| Spanish Mine | Gold, Barium-Barite, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | 1883 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dillon (historical) | 2.0 miles | 33 | |
| Alpha (historical) | 2.2 miles | 34 | |
| Junction House | 3.0 miles | 34 | |
| Omega | 3.2 miles | 34 | |
| Relief | 3.3 miles | 34 | |
| Gaston | 3.9 miles | 31 | |
| Snow Tent (historical) | 4.0 miles | 33 | |
| Shands (historical) | 4.6 miles | 33 |
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 Washington | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3178632 | 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 1660130. 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.













