A term included in many California place names; some camps were originally military installations, while others were work sites or summer resorts. Camp Curry [Yosemite N.P.] was established as a resort in 1899 by David and Jennie Curry. Camp Meeker [Sonoma Co.] was named for Melvin C. Meeker, a lumberman.
CAMPHORA (kam FOR uh) [Monterey Co.]. Mexican railroad workers referred to Camp Four, a construction camp set up here in 1873, as Camfora.
CAMPO (KAM poh) [San Diego Co.]. The word is Spanish for “field,” but in California it is often equivalent to the English word camp.
CAMUESA (kuh MOO suh) PEAK [Santa Barbara Co.]. Probably from Spanish camuza, gamuza, “chamois,” used locally to mean “buckskin,” because Indian women tanned deerskins near here.
CAMULOS (kuh MYOO luhs) [Ventura Co.]. From Ventureño Chumash kamulus, “the juniper.”
CANDLESTICK PARK [San Francisco Co.]. Named for Candlestick Rock, an eight-foot pinnacle mapped in 1869.
CANOGA (kuh NOH guh) PARK [Los Angeles Co.], Named in the 1890s after Canoga, New York, which was originally a Cayuga (Iroquoian) village.
CANYON. From Spanish cañón, this word forms part of many California place names, such as Canyon [Alameda Co.] and Canyon Country [Los Angeles Co.].
CAPAY (kuh PAY) [Yolo Co.]. From Hill Patwin kapay, “creek.”
CAPITOLA (kap uh TOH luh) [Santa Cruz Co.]. The name was apparently coined from capitol in 1876, perhaps in the hope that the state capital would be located here.
CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA [San Diego Co.]. Laid out in 1911 and named after the seaport in Wales.
CARLSBAD [San Diego Co.]. Named in 1886 for Karlsbad, in Bohemia (now Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic), because of the similarity of the mineral waters in the two places.
CARMEL (kahr MEL) RIVER [Monterey Co.]. The stream was discovered by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1603 and called Rio del Carmelo. Spanish Carmelo is the name of Mount Carmel near Jerusalem, based on Hebrew karmel, “vineyard, orchard.” Modern applications of the name include Carmel Valley and the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, the latter now often called simply Carmel.
CARPINTERIA (kahr puhn tuh REE uh) [Santa Barbara Co.]. From Spanish carpintería, “carpenter’s shop,” because the Portolá expedition found Indians building canoes here in 1769.
CARQUINEZ (kahr KEE nuhs) STRAIT [Solano, Contra Costa Cos.]. This is originally a Spanish plural, Carquines, of the Costanoan tribal name Karkin, based on a word meaning “barter.”
CARRIZO (kuh REE zoh) CREEK [San Diego, Imperial Cos.]. Takes its name from the Spanish word for “reed grass”; California Indians used the grass to make panoche, similar to brown sugar. The Carrizo Plain [San Luis Obispo Co.] lies on the San Andreas Fault and is famous for its frequent earthquakes.
CARSON RIVER and PASS [Alpine Co.]. The river was named in 1848 by John C. Frémont for his guide, Christopher (Kit) Carson, a famous mountain man and Indian fighter. Carson became the hero of many dime novels and, although illiterate, dictated a best-selling autobiography. Carson Creek [Calaveras Co.] and the town of Carson [Los Angeles Co.] are named for early settlers with that surname.
CASA. The Spanish for “house” is found in some place names applied in American times, such as Casa Blanca (kah suh BLANG kuh) [Riverside Co.]. The site of Casa Diablo (dee AH bloh) [Mono Co.], for casa del diablo, “house of the devil,” was so named because a geyser once existed there. Casa Loma (LOH muh) [Placer Co.] is for casa de la loma, “house of the hill.”
CASCADE RANGE. This name applies to the range of mountains extending from Washington and Oregon south to include Lassen Peak in California; it referred earlier to the falls on the Columbia River.
CASHLAPOODA (kash luh POO duh) CREEK [Humboldt Co.]. Probably from the Cache la Poudre River in Colorado, French for “hide the (gun)powder”—so named by French trappers who cached their supplies there.
CASMALIA (kaz MAY lee uh) [Santa Barbara Co.]. From Purisimeño Chumash kasma’li, “it is the last.”
CASNAU (KAZ naw) CREEK [Tuolumne Co.]. Sometimes thought to be named for General Thomas N. Casneau or Casnau, but in fact named for Thomas Casenave, a French rancher who received a patent here in 1875.
CASTAIC (kas TAYK) [Los Angeles Co.]. From Ventureño Chumash kashtïq, “the eye, the face.” An alternative spelling is used for Castac Lake and Valley [Kern Co.].
CASTRO. A common Spanish surname, used to name several places in California. Castro Valley [Alameda Co.] was named for the early landowner Guillermo Castro. Castroville [Monterey Co.] was laid out and named in 1864 by Juan Bautista Castro.
CAYUCOS (kah YOO kuhs) [San Luis Obispo Co.]. The plural of Spanish cayuco, “fishing canoe,” borrowed from Eskimo kayak.
CAZADERO (kaz uh DAIR oh) [Sonoma Co.]. Spanish for “hunting place,” named in the late 1880s.
CECILVILLE [Siskiyou Co.]. Contains a misspelling of the name of the pioneer John Baker Sissel.
CENTINELA (sen tuh NEL uh) CREEK [Los Angeles Co.]. From the Spanish word for “sentry, sentinel.” The name Santa Nella [Merced Co.] is from the same origin.
CENTRAL VALLEY. The area encompassed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys in central California. The town of Central Valley [Shasta Co.] was named in 1938 for the Central Valley Project, which built Shasta Dam.
CENTURY CITY [Los Angeles Co.]. Named for 20th Century-Fox film studios, on the site of which it was built, starting in 1961.
CERES (SEER eez) [Stanislaus Co.]. Named for the Roman goddess of agriculture.
CERRITO. Spanish for “little hill” (diminutive of cerro, “hill”), it is the basis for several place names, such as Cerritos (suh REE tohs) [Los Angeles Co.] and El Cerrito [Contra Costa Co.]. The “little hill” of the latter is actually in the neighboring town of Albany and is known as Albany Hill.
CHAGOOPA (chuh GOO puh) FALLS [Sequoia N.P.]. Supposedly named for an old Paiute chief.
CHALANEY (chuh LAY nee) CREEK [Tulare Co.]. Previously known as Chilean Creek and Chanley Creek; it is possibly from Spanish chileno, “Chilean,” because of Chilean miners who participated in the Gold Rush.
CHALONE
