Willow Creek, California
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Willow Creek-Hoopa Valley census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95573. It stands on Willow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Willow Creek quadrangle. 1,720 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 610 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1915 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1915 against another survey:
Population over time
2 figuresWillow Creek grew from 1,710 to 1,720 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 | 1,710 | |
| 2020 | 1,720 | +10 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 18 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.
- 1915 USGS Big Bar and Vicinity quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1922 USGS China Flat quadrangle1:62500
- 1952 USGS Willow Creek quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Redding quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1979 USGS Willow Creek quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Hayfork quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Willow Creek quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
258 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 258 fires within 5 miles of Willow Creek between 1992 and 2020, burning about 572 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 57 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 | 57 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 57 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 40 |
| Debris and open burning | 32 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 23 |
| Natural | 14 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Fireworks | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Other causes | 4 |
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 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | MORTON |
| 8 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | CINNABAR |
| 8 September 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | KATY |
| 6 September 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | LIBERTY |
| 5 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Hoopa Valley Tribe | MILE POST 8 |
| 4 September 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Six Rivers National Forest | WILLOW |
| 4 September 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Six Rivers National Forest | STORAGE |
| 30 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Humboldt-Del Norte Unit | BRANHAM |
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 48 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 48 workings within 5 miles of Willow Creek: 14 producers, 12 unknowns, 12 occurrences, 9 past producers. 14 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Platinum, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer Property | Gold, Platinum, Osmium, Iridium | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Henderson | Gold, PGE | Unknown | ||
| Koon Ranch | Gold, Platinum, Osmium, Iridium, Iron, Rhodium, Nickel, Copper, Ruthenium, Palladium | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Macintosh Mine | Gold, Osmium, Ruthenium, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium | Producer | Stream Placer | |
| Macintosh Mine | Osmium, Ruthenium, Gold, Iridium, Rhodium | Unknown | ||
| Salyer Pit & Mill | Silica | Producer | ||
| Ammon Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Leaning Tree No. 2 | Manganese | Occurrence | 1942 | |
| Leaning Tree No. 2 Claim | Manganese | Occurrence | 1942 | |
| Three Creeks Limestone | Limestone, Dimension | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
6 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Willow Creek in 6 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 5 heavy rain, 1 hail. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2017 | Heavy Rain | Willow Creek | $1,750,000 | Landslide and slope failure along Highway 299 near mile post 30. |
| February 2024 | Heavy Rain | Willow Creek | - | Landslide completely blocking Highway 299 west of Salyer. |
| December 2022 | Heavy Rain | Willow Creek | - | Heavy rain initiated an active landslide across one lane of HWY 299 west of Willow Creek. |
| December 2022 | Heavy Rain | Willow Creek | - | Heavy rain caused rock and mud to slide. |
| December 2019 | Heavy Rain | Willow Creek | - | California Highway Patrol reported a mudslide on Highway 299 mile marker 32 west of Willow Creek. |
| August 2003 | Hail | Willow Creek | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoopa | 8.0 miles | 16 | |
| Janes Place | 11.3 miles | 19 | |
| Fernwood | 12.6 miles | 15 | |
| Dinsmores | 16.2 miles | 21 | |
| Pekwuteu (historical) | 17.3 miles | 16 | |
| Ertlerger (historical) | 17.3 miles | 16 | |
| Maple Creek | 17.6 miles | 15 | |
| Weitchpec | 17.6 miles | 16 |
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 Willow Creek | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3242429 | 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 1660182. 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.






