Wayfarrow

Kerby

Ghost town · Plumas County, California

Portola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:62,500)
Portola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Kerby is a ghost town in Plumas County, California. It is one of 23 former communities in Plumas County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 11th among the 58 California counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Kerby as a historical populated place on the Portola 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 39.8243° N, 120.4219° W.

Key facts

USGS quadranglePortola
Elevation4,907 ft
Nearest living townBeckwourth, CA
Distance to it1.4 miles
GNIS feature ID1701373
Coordinates39.82435, -120.42188

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.

Kerby today, aerial view
Portola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:62,500)

Left: Portola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1950, 1:62,500), 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

Kerby is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Beckwourth, CA (population 442), about 1.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 4,907 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 Kerby?

Kerby is in Plumas County, California, at 39.8243, -120.4219.

How many ghost towns are in Plumas County?

Plumas County, California has 23 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.