Pulga 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 ...

Butte County, California Butte County () is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. In the 2020 census, its population was 211,632. The county seat is Oroville. Butte County comprises the Chico, CA metropolitan statistical area. It is ...

. It is located along the west slope of the

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather R ...

canyon. A variant name for the community is Big Bar.

History

The land was once occupied by Konkow Maidu tribes. In 1885, the town of Pulga was founded by William King, a sawmill owner and railroad geologist. A post office was opened in 1906. The area had attracted gold miners and miners of

vesuvianite Vesuvianite, also known as idocrase, is a green, brown, yellow, or blue silicate mineral. Vesuvianite occurs as tetragonal crystals in skarn deposits and limestones that have been subjected to contact metamorphism. It was first discovered within ...

, also known as "Pulga Jade". The town was always small, and peaked in size in the 1930s and 1940s with a few hundred people. The

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

Feather River Route The Feather River Route is a rail line that was built and operated by the Western Pacific Railroad. It was constructed between 1906 and 1909, and connects the cities of Oakland, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The line was built to compete ...

line ran through the town and offered Vista

Dome car A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car, sleeping car or obse ...

s, designed and built with the scenery on this route in mind. In the late-1960s, the this was no longer a train route and the mining business had dried up. In 1994, the William King estate sold the town property, on which the Mystic Valley Retreat and School of Hypnotism was erected; most of the buildings have fallen into disrepair. In 2015, the town was purchased by Betsy Ann Cowley. Crowley opened it as a feminist artist retreat and event venue, also named Pulga. In 2018, high tension lines near the

Poe Dam Poe Dam is a concrete gravity diversion dam on the North Fork Feather River, about north of Lake Oroville in Butte County, California in the United States. Completed in 1959, the dam is the lowermost component of the Pacific Gas and Electric Com ...

, north of Pulga, were the cause of the

Camp Fire A campfire is a fire at a campsite that provides light and warmth, and heat for cooking. It can also serve as a beacon, and an insect and predator deterrent. Established campgrounds often provide a stone or steel fire ring for safety. Campfires ...

. Two buildings in Pulga were destroyed and others were damaged.

Geography

Pulgsa is at the mouth of Flea Valley Creek, which gives rise to the toponym. A

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

passes through the settlement.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Butte County, California Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States) Unincorporated communities in California Former Western Pacific Railroad stations

History

Geography

See also

References

External links