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Wilsonia, California

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Woodlake-Three Rivers census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93633. It lies near Fox Flat. The Survey maps it on the General Grant Grove quadrangle. 14 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,617 feet above sea level.

Wilsonia within Tulare County

Then and now

1903 to 1993

The same ground, surveyed 90 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Wilsonia, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Wilsonia, surveyed 1903

On record in Wilsonia

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Wilsonia grew from 5 to 14 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
20105
202014+9 (+180%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 27 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

168 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 168 fires within 5 miles of Wilsonia between 1992 and 2020, burning about 424 acres in total. 30 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
Recreation and ceremony46
Natural30
Missing data/not specified/undetermined27
Debris and open burning24
Equipment and vehicle use17
Arson/incendiarism6
Smoking6
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Other causes2
Fireworks1

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
5 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSequoia & Kings Canyon National ParksSWALE
4 September 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestTEN MILE
4 September 2011Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestKV
3 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia & Kings Canyon National ParksCONE
3 September 1998Naturalunder an acreSequoia National ForestLOG
28 September 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreSequoia & Kings Canyon National ParksLION
28 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSequoia National ForestTODD
24 September 2008Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSequoia National ForestASPEN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tulare County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Wilsonia: 4 prospects, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Copper, Tungsten, Copper, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gray EagleGold, Copper, SilverProspect
Black PrinceGold, Silver, CopperProspect
DomingoGold, Silver, CopperUnknown
Indian Gap No 1TungstenOccurrence
Mill Creek TungstenTungstenProspect
Blue BirdGoldProspect
Way-UpGoldPast Producer

Every working recorded in Tulare County

Storms near this place

8 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wilsonia in 8 storm reports between 2003 and 2025: 5 wildfire, 2 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
October 2003WildfireWilsonia$806,770The Kaweah-Kern Complex of fires was lightning ignited late in July (includes the Williams, West Kern, Giant, Slide Bluffs, Bubbs, West Clover, High Bridge, East Fork, West Timber, Tar Gap 1 and Gap 2, Fry Pan, Soda Springs, and Homers Nose Fires ... Paradise 2 Fire had formerly been included in this complex but is removed from this report). These fires were generally allowed to burn for resource management purposes.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindWilsonia$25,000Park Service reported trees and powerlines downed.
August 2003WildfireWilsonia$22,000The Williams Fire was lightning started in the wee hours of the morning of July 28th and burned through the month of August as a managed resource fire. No injuries were reported but the fire cost was assessed at $22K. The fire burned 827 acres by the end of August.
February 2025FloodWilsonia-California Highway Patrol reported 4 large rocks in the roadway on SR 180 at 3000 ft elevation.
September 2022FloodWilsonia-A mudslide occurred on the Generals Highway between Quail Flat and the intersection with SR 180. This resulted in a lengthy road closure as Generals Highway remained closed until the following morning for clean-up.
July 2003WildfireWilsonia-The Williams Fire was lightning started in the wee hours of the morning of July 28th and burned through the month of August as a managed resource fire. No injuries were reported but the fire cost was assessed at $22K.
November 2003WildfireWilsonia-The Kaweah-Kern Complex of fires was lightning ignited late in July (includes the Williams, West Kern, Giant, Slide Bluffs, Bubbs, West Clover, High Bridge, East Fork, West Timber, Tar Gap 1 and Gap 2, Fry Pan, Soda Springs, and Homers Nose Fires). These fires were allowed to burn for resource management purposes. Cost of fires accounted in earlier months. Total acreage assessed at 11,654 acres at the first of the month.
September 2003WildfireWilsonia-The Kaweah-Kern Complex of fires were essentially started July 28th and allowed to continue to burn as resource fires through the month of September. Fires within this complex included Williams, West Kern, Giant, Slide Bluffs, Bubbs, West Clover, High Bridge, East Fork, West Timber, Tar Gap 1, Tar Gap 2, Fry Pan, Soda Springs, and Paradise 2. Acreage burned: 5790 acres in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park; 2245 acres in the Sequoia National Forest; and, 435 acres in the Inyo National Forest. As of September 30th, the cost was $530.2K.

Every storm recorded in Tulare 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
Grant Grove Village0.5 miles27
Hartland5.6 miles27
Sierra Glen7.0 miles23
Badger7.8 miles23
Stony Creek Village7.8 miles26
Auckland12.9 miles24
Red Fir13.5 miles26
Pinewood15.0 miles26

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 WilsoniaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6167928The 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 1660189. 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.