Applegate is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Placer County Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the G ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is south-southwest of Colfax, and northeast of Auburn. The city's msl elevation is . Its ZIP code is 95703 and its

area code 530 Area code 530 is a California telephone area code in northeastern and Northern California. Regions within it include the Sacramento Valley (including some outer suburbs of Sacramento), Shasta Cascade, and the northern Sierra Nevada. Area code 53 ...

. Applegate was originally settled in 1849 by Lisbon Applegate, who came to California with his son, George, from Missouri. Part of a family that first emigrated to America in the 17th century, the Applegates bought acreage above Clipper Gap, California, and established a fruit ranch there. The main house of the Applegate Ranch was where Oliver's gas station and bar sits today. Lisbon eventually returned to Missouri but his son, George W. Applegate, stayed. As the town grew, it was called Bear River House for its proximity to the Bear River, a short distance northwest. When a post office was established in 1855, the community officially became known as Lisbon in honor of its founder. George W. Applegate became postmaster, and in the 1870s, the settlement was renamed Applegate, also to honor its founder. At one time, Applegate was a station on the Central Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific). When a second track was added in 1929, the station on the eastbound track was named East Applegate. The tracks are separated by about . From ''Placer GOLD'', November 1973; "Applegate is a quiet little town about eight miles northeast of Auburn, rudely severed in two parts by Interstate 80. The town consists of a post office, motel, hardware store, grocery and saloon-and something else..." Applegate is also the only known place in Northern California where the Ladyfoot Trumpet flower grows wild. Some people believe that its seeds were left here long ago when the Lemurians passed through on their way to

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of , it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades ...

Climate

Alta has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

that is characterized by cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers (Köppen climate classification Csa).

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Placer County, California Unincorporated communities in the Sacramento metropolitan area Populated places established in 1849 1849 establishments in California