Richvale is a small
census-designated placeA census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(population 244) in
Butte CountyButte County is a county located in the Central Valley of the US state of California, north of the state capital of Sacramento. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 220,000. The county seat is Oroville. Butte County is the "Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty."Butte County is watered by the...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
,
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, south of
ChicoChico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
and west of
OrovilleOroville is the county seat of Butte County, California. The population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 at the 2000 census...
. The primary crop grown in the area surrounding Richvale is
riceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, irrigated from the
Oroville DamOroville Dam spans the Feather River about northeast of the city of Oroville, California. It forms Lake Oroville, which stores water for irrigation, flood control, municipal water supply and hydroelectricity generation in California's Sacramento Valley. The dam lies in the foothills of the Sierra...
on the
Feather RiverThe 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 about . Its drainage basin is about...
. Several farmers in the area are known for
organic farmingOrganic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
. The population was 244 at the 2010 census.
Richvale is located at 39° 29' 38" North, 121° 44' 41" West, 108 feet (32.9 m) above sea level.
The ZIP Code is 95974. The community is inside
area code 530North American area code 530 is a California telephone area code that covers Auburn, Chico, Colfax, Davis, Grass Valley, Marysville, Oroville, Placerville, Redding, Red Bluff, Susanville, Truckee, Woodland, Yuba City and South Lake Tahoe....
.
History
Legend says that the name "Richvale" (meaning "
fertileFertile soil has the following properties:*It is rich in nutrients necessary for basic plant nutrition, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium....
valley") was coined by
conA confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
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 were shown lush pictures of California's
San Joaquin ValleyThe San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...
and Central Valley and sold land at outrageous prices. The
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
near Richvale is nothing like the
fertile soilFertile soil has the following properties:*It is rich in nutrients necessary for basic plant nutrition, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium....
of the
San Joaquin ValleyThe San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...
, being composed mostly of
clayClay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
instead of
loamLoam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
. The locals call the soil "
adobeAdobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
" 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 BowlThe Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
farmers came west during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Due to the adobe soil's ability to retain water and remain flooded, the ground makes a near-ideal
rice paddyA paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
, and rice has become the primary crop of the area.
IrrigationIrrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
is provided by surface water from the plentiful
Feather RiverThe 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 about . Its drainage basin is about...
.
In 2005, 33500 acres (135.6 km²) of rice were served by Butte County Rice Growers Association. Current storage capacity is 3200000 short hundredweights (145,149.6 t). 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 densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 263.2 people per square mile (101.6/km²). The racial makeup of Richvale was 216 (88.5%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 11 (4.5%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 10 (4.1%) from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 7 (2.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic 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 couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
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 partnershipsPOSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons 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 cohabitation in American households....
, 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
familiesA family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...
(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 108.9 per square mile (42.1/km²), 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
The Evangelical Free Church of America is an evangelical Christian denomination. The EFCA was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association.-History:...
Church, 5219 Church Street
- Richvale Fire Department, 1236 School Street
- Richvale Post Office (ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
95974), 1259 Broadway
- Lundberg Family Farms
Lundberg Family Farms, based in Richvale, California in the United States, produces, packages, and markets organic foods. It is family owned and has been a pioneer in organic farming, especially rice products. It was the first business to produce and market a brand of organic rice in the United...
, 5370 Church Street