BlockBefore

Weldon, 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 93283. It stands on Kelso Creek. The Survey maps it on the Weldon quadrangle. 2,303 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,654 feet above sea level.

Weldon within Kern County

Then and now

1906 to 1978

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Weldon, surveyed 1978
Topographic sheet of Weldon, surveyed 1906

Population over time

2 figures

Weldon fell from 2,642 to 2,303 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
20102,642
20202,303-339 (-13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 28 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

131 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 131 fires within 5 miles of Weldon between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,128 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 6 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/undetermined70
Equipment and vehicle use15
Natural12
Debris and open burning7
Recreation and ceremony6
Arson/incendiarism6
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Fireworks4
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Smoking1
Other causes1

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
8 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
6 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.4 acresCentral California DistrictFORK
30 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named
3 September 1997Naturalunder an acreCentral California DistrictONYX
25 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
24 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0974
21 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 0261
20 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKern County Fire Departmentnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kern County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Weldon: 6 occurrences, 6 past producers, 4 prospects, 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Tungsten, Manganese, Limestone, General, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Kennedy Minerals Co. DepositLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Last Chance MineTungsten, CopperPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Scheelite
O. K. ClaimManganeseOccurrenceRhodonite
Ok ProspectManganeseProspect1935
B and F MineTungstenPast ProducerScheelite
B and F MineTungstenPast Producer
Bright StarTungstenOccurrenceVein
Bright Star ProspectTungstenProspect
High Enough ProspectTungstenOccurrenceScheelite
High Enough ProspectTungstenProspect

Every working recorded in Kern County

Storms near this place

4 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Weldon in 4 storm reports between 2005 and 2023: 2 flood, 1 heavy rain, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2023FloodWeldon-California Highway Patrol reported flooding at the intersection of Kelso Valley Rd. and Kelso Creek Rd. resulting in the closures of both roads.
March 2019FloodWeldon-California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at the intersection of Kelso Creek Rd. and Kelso Valley Rd. south of Weldon.
February 2005Heavy RainWeldon-no account filed
August 2005Flash FloodWeldon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kern 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
Bella Vista1.9 miles28
Onyx4.1 miles28
South Lake4.5 miles28
Mountain Mesa6.4 miles28
Squirrel Mountain Valley7.0 miles28
Kernville (historical)8.4 miles28
Isabella (historical)9.1 miles28
Canebrake9.1 miles28

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 WeldonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q929048The 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 255860. 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.