Washington (Alameda County, Calif.

Washington (originally, Indiana Camp) is a census-designated place located in Nevada County, California. Washington is located on the banks of the South Yuba River and has a population of approximately one hundred people. There is a hotel/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 2,612 feet (796 m). The population was 185 at the 2010 census. According to the 2020 census, the population was 101 with a median age of 59.9. 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 afterward 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, hydraulic mining, and hard-rock mining. During the mining period, many Chinese 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.