Washington (originally, Indiana Camp)
[ 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 count ...
located in Nevada County, California
Nevada County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee- Grass Valley, CA Micropolit ...
.Yuba River
The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba Rive ...
and has a population of approximately two hundred people. There is a hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
/ bar and restaurant, grocery store, a one-room schoolhouse that has educated students continuously for one hundred years, and two trailer park campgrounds. The elevation is . The population was 185 at the 2010 census. According to the 2020 census, the population was 137 with a median age of 61.7.
The population fluctuates seasonally and the town businesses rely on the tourist trade as the population increases in the summer. It was settled during the California Gold Rush in 1849 and produced a large amount of placer gold. Hard rock mines were established soon afterword and were very productive. Washington is the only settlement in the vicinity to have survived to this day. There remains today much evidence of placer gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...
, hydraulic mining, and hard-rock mining
Underground hard-rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate "hard" minerals, usually those containing metals, such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin, and lead. It also involves th ...
. During the mining period, many Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
lived there.
Washington's biggest businesses are its two campsites, Little Town Campground (formerly Gene's Pine Aire Campground) and the River Rest, which has been in business since the 1960s through different owners. Filmmaker Sara Ross-Samko is making a feature-length documentary portrait of the town.
The ZIP Code is 95986. The community is inside 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 ...
.
History
The place was founded in 1849 by miners from Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
and was originally named Indiana Camp.[ It was renamed Washington in 1850.][
The Washington South Yuba post office operated here from 1852 to 1854.][
]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, the CDP covers an area of , all of it land.
Demographics
The 2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...
reported that Washington had a population of 185. The population density was . The racial makeup of Washington was 166 (89.7%) White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 1 (0.5%) African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 4 (2.2%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 4 (2.2%) from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 10 (5.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 11 persons (5.9%).
The Census reported that 169 people (91.4% of the population) lived in households, 16 (8.6%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 90 households, out of which 11 (12.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21 (23.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 5 (5.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 9 (10.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 12 (13.3%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 1 (1.1%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 43 households (47.8%) were made up of individuals, and 10 (11.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.88. There were 35 families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...
(38.9% of all households); the average family size was 2.43.
The population age was spread out, with 25 people (13.5%) under the age of 18, 12 people (6.5%) aged 18 to 24, 31 people (16.8%) aged 25 to 44, 86 people (46.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 31 people (16.8%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 160.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 138.8 males.
There were 131 housing units at an average density of , of which 55 (61.1%) were owner-occupied, and 35 (38.9%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 2.8%. 110 people (59.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 59 people (31.9%) lived in rental housing units.
Politics
In the state legislature, Washington is in , and .
Federally, Washington is in .
Notable townspeople
*Alice Fong Yu
Alice Fong Yu (Chinese: 尤方玉屏; 2 March 1905 - 19 December 2000) was an American schoolteacher and community organizer. The first Chinese American to teach at a public school, she was a founding member and first president of the Square and ...
References
* Slater, Robert I. and Grace I. Slater, "Historical Notes Of The Early Washington, Nevada County, California Mining District."
External links
{{authority control
Census-designated places in Nevada County, California
Populated places established in 1849
Census-designated places in California
1849 establishments in California