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Democrat

Ghost town · Nevada County, California

Washington quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:24,000)
Washington quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Democrat is a ghost town in Nevada County, California. It is one of 28 former communities in Nevada County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 8th among the 58 California counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Democrat as a historical populated place on the Washington topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 39.2832° N, 120.7794° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleWashington
Elevation4,189 ft
Nearest living townAlta, CA
Distance to it4.8 miles
GNIS feature ID1682872
Coordinates39.28323, -120.77938

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Democrat today, aerial view
Washington quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:24,000)

Left: Washington quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Democrat is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Alta, CA (population 740), about 4.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 4,189 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Democrat?

Democrat is in Nevada County, California, at 39.2832, -120.7794.

How many ghost towns are in Nevada County?

Nevada County, California has 28 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.