Richvale (also, Richland, Silbys Switch, Silsby) is a small

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a 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 counterparts of incorporated places, su ...

(population 244) in Butte County, California, US, south of

Chico Chico () means ''small'', ''boy'' or ''child'' in the Spanish language. It is also the nickname for Francisco in the Portuguese language (). Chico may refer to: Places *Chico, California, a city *Chico, Montana, an unincorporated community *Chic ...

and west of Oroville. The primary crop grown in the area surrounding Richvale is rice, irrigated from the

Oroville Dam Oroville Dam is an earthfill embankment dam on the Feather River east of the city of Oroville, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of the Sacramento Valley. At 770 feet (235 m) high, it is the tallest dam in the U.S. and ...

on 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 ...

. Several farmers in the area are known for

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

. The population was 244 at the 2010 census. Richvale is located at 39° 29' 38" North, 121° 44' 41" West, above sea level. The ZIP Code is 95974. 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

Legend says that the name "Richvale" (meaning "

fertile Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Ferti ...

valley") was coined by con men to sell worthless plots of land to wheat farmers from Nebraska and Kansas. The developers (Richvale Land Company) changed the name from Selby Switch (a railroad siding) to Richvale in 1909. The place was settled in 1911, and a post office opened that same year. Farmers in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

were shown lush pictures of California's

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

and Central Valley and sold land at outrageous prices. The

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

near Richvale is nothing like the

fertile soil Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.

of the

, being composed mostly of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

instead of

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

. The dominant soil is Esquon clay, a poorly drained

vertisol A vertisol, or vertosol, is a soil type in which there is a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them known as montmorillonite, that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, altern ...

. The locals call the soil "

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

" due to its high clay content. The land is unsuitable for vineyards, orchards, and most other crops. Some buyers took one look at the soil and returned to the Midwest. Those who stayed built a community from the muddy ground up: a post office (1912), roads, an irrigation and drainage district, a hotel (1913), a church (1913), a cooperative (1914 and still operating, the Butte County Rice Growers Association), a school (1914), and a grocery store (1920). During a second wave of migration

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...

farmers came west during the Great Depression. Due to the adobe soil's ability to retain water and remain flooded, the ground makes a near-ideal

rice paddy A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Au ...

, and rice has become the primary crop of the area.

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

is provided by plentiful surface water from the

. In 2005, of rice were served by the Butte County Rice Growers Association. Current storage capacity is . With time and a lot of hard work, the town of Richvale lived up to its name as rice farming provided an abundant livelihood for the original settlers and their offspring. The history of Richvale was recently written by the Richvale Writing Group (with Teresa Ward) and published by The Community Foundation of Richvale in a book (Richvale: A Legacy of Courage, Dedication, and Perseverance) with 364 historical photographs.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Richvale had a population of 244. The population density was . The racial makeup of Richvale was 216 (88.5%)

White White is the lightness, 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 diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

, 0 (0.0%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, 11 (4.5%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 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 Ocea ...

, 10 (4.1%) from other races, and 7 (2.9%) 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 for ...

or Latino of any race were 27 persons (11.1%). The Census reported that 244 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 89 households, out of which 29 (32.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 53 (59.6%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 5 (5.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 8 (9.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 11 (12.4%)

unmarried opposite-sex partnerships POSSLQ ( , plural POSSLQs) is an abbreviation (or acronym) for "Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of ...

, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 16 households (18.0%) were made up of individuals, and 8 (9.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74. There were 66

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. Idea ...

(74.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.11. The population was spread out, with 64 people (26.2%) under the age of 18, 15 people (6.1%) aged 18 to 24, 56 people (23.0%) aged 25 to 44, 65 people (26.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 44 people (18.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.5 males. There were 101 housing units at an average density of , of which 89 were occupied, of which 70 (78.7%) were owner-occupied, and 19 (21.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 0%. 192 people (78.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 52 people (21.3%) lived in rental housing units.

Places of interest

* Richvale Airport, 1764 Richvale Highway * Richvale Cafe, 5285 Midway * Richvale Elementary School, 5236 Church Street * Richvale Evangelical Free Church, 5219 Church Street * Richvale Fire Department, 1236 School Street * Richvale Post Office ( ZIP Code 95974), 1259 Broadway *

Lundberg Family Farms Lundberg Family Farms, based in Richvale, California, United States, is a farm that produces rice, chips and their packaging, and that also markets organic foods. It is family owned and has been a pioneer in organic farming, especially rice product ...

, 5370 Church Street

Notable People

Doug LaMalfa Douglas Lee LaMalfa (born July 2, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 1st congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, his district, the second-largest in the state after t ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

California's 1st congressional district California's 1st congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in California. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican, has represented the district since January 2013. Currently, it encompasses the northeastern part of the state. Since the 2022 ...

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Butte County, California Populated places established in 1911 Census-designated places in California