South Lake 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 ...

in the

Kern River Valley The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California. History The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu people, and various bedrock mortar and pictograph ...

, in

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

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 located west-southwest of Weldon, at an elevation of . South Lake is located along the south shore of

Lake Isabella Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. It was formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Kern River at the junction of its two f ...

. A CalTrans G9-2 guide sign posted along SR178 identifies the population as 160. The community uses the

Weldon, California Weldon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. It sits at the southeast tip of Lake Isabella. Weldon is located east-southeast of Wofford Heights, at an elevation of . The population was 2,642 at the 201 ...

ZIP Code of 93283, and is contained within

Area code 760 Area code 760 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 619 on March 22, 1997. Area code 442 is an overlay of 760 that became effective on November 21, 2009. It encompasses much of the southeastern and southernmost porti ...

History

According to the ''

National Register for Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

,'' a

Tübatulabal The Tübatulabal are an indigenous people of Kern River Valley in the Sierra Nevada range of California. They may have been the first people to make this area their permanent home. Today many of them are enrolled in the Tule River Indian Trib ...

tribal settlement existed in this area circa 1499. In 2016, the community was devastated by the 43,000-acre

Erskine fire The Erskine Fire was a wildfire that was burning in the Lake Isabella area of Kern County. It was the second-largest wildfire of the 2016 California wildfire season. It was also the first fire of the year to have fatalities and is the 15th most d ...

, which burned over 100 mobile home trailers and houses to the ground in a 1-square-mile area, killing tw

Geography

This populated place has a United States Geological Survey, US Geological Survey (USGS),

National Geographic Names Database The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

feature ID of either 1867057 (current) or 1661474 (in older editions). Elevation above mean sea level is shown as . South Lake, California is located along SR178 between Bella Vista and Mountain Mesa. The community is in the South Fork portion of the

Kern County Fire Department The Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) provides fire protection and emergency response services for the unincorporated areas of Kern County, California, and for multiple cities within the county. The department covers an area which spans over . I ...

, "South Lake" Station 71 is located at 9000 Navajo Ave. The station is identified as part of organizational unit "Battalion 7."Fire station is described on the loca
fire fighter's union
web page. It is also shown in many local and federal public records. South of town, Goat Ranch Canyon extends into the Paiute Mountains.

References

Unincorporated communities in Kern County, California Kern River Valley Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States) Unincorporated communities in California {{KernCountyCA-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

References