Grizzly Flats (formerly Grizzly Flat and Chickenmasee) is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

El Dorado County El Dorado County (; ''El Dorado'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Golden ne), officially the County of El Dorado, is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is located southeast of Camino, at an elevation of 3868 feet (1179 m). Grizzly Flats is the town nearest to Baltic Peak, a small peak to the northwest. The population at the 2020 census was 1,093.

History

Grizzly Flats originated as a gold mining camp in the 1850s. The name was given by prospectors who were surprised by a

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

there in 1850. In 1852 it was described as being on a flat piece of land measuring approximately one mile by three quarters of a mile and having two combination bars, stores, and

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

s, with more under construction. It was located centrally in a jurisdiction called Mountain Township. A post office opened in 1854, a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

route to Diamond Springs in 1855, and a

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

office in 1857. Catholic and Methodist churches were also established in the mid-1850s. Fires in 1866 and 1869 destroyed most of the settlement; the 1869 fire killed one person and destroyed all but two buildings in the business district, which was only partly rebuilt. On August 17, 2021, the

Caldor Fire The Caldor Fire was a large wildfire that burned in the Eldorado National Forest and other areas of the Sierra Nevada in El Dorado County, California, El Dorado, Amador County, California, Amador, and Alpine County, California, Alpine County, ...

destroyed around 500 buildings in and near Grizzly Flats, including the original 1850s post office, the modern post office, and Walt Tyler Elementary School. Two people from the area with serious injuries caused by the fire were airlifted to hospitals. The mandatory evacuation order was lifted on September 6.

Demographics

Grizzley Flats first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 U.S. Census. The 2020 United States census reported that Grizzly Flats had a population of 1,093. The population density was . The racial makeup of Grizzly Flats was 897 (82.1%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 7 (0.6%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 19 (1.7%) Native American, 14 (1.3%) Asian, 0 (0.0%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 29 (2.7%) from other races, and 127 (11.6%) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 99 persons (9.1%). The whole population lived in households. There were 465 households, out of which 94 (20.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 269 (57.8%) were married-couple households, 39 (8.4%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 48 (10.3%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 109 (23.4%) had a male householder with no partner present. 104 households (22.4%) were one person, and 59 (12.7%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.35. There were 316

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(68.0% of all households). The age distribution was 200 people (18.3%) under the age of 18, 51 people (4.7%) aged 18 to 24, 240 people (22.0%) aged 25 to 44, 328 people (30.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 274 people (25.1%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 51.1years. For every 100 females, there were 112.2 males. There were 654 housing units at an average density of , of which 465 (71.1%) were occupied. Of these, 402 (86.5%) were owner-occupied, and 63 (13.5%) were occupied by renters.

Climate

The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

subtype for this climate is " Csb" (Mediterranean Climate).Climate Summary for Grizzly Flats
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References

External links

Grizzly Flats Online

Grizzly Flats Community Services District
{{authority control Census-designated places in California Census-designated places in El Dorado County, California Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States)