Bella Vista, California

History

Bella Vista was once a thriving Lumber town. A lumber flume fed a mill at the present day location of the end of Meyers Road and Deschutes. The flume was completed by the Shasta Lumber Company in August 1888 when it reached Bella Vista. The lumber flume was a V-shape structure which was elevated to 90’ in height and supported by scaffolds. Lumber from nearby Round Mountain was shipping via the flume to the mill at Bella Vista where it would be treated and sent south to the railhead at Anderson CA. Present day Bella Vista was the end of the lumber flume and the site was originally called, the dump, because it was the dumping point of the lumber coming off the lumber flume. The original town site was established with a general merchandise store owned by the Shasta Lumber Company, company offices, a planning mill and additional buildings. Bella Vista was once a thriving community and at its peak, hosted a population of 2,000. Bella Vista's community consisted of saloons, barber shops and various stores, including gas stations.

Bella Vista once hosted the Anderson and Bella Vista Railway which was a 15-mile freight carrier that hauled lumber and other commodities to the Southern Pacific railhead in Anderson CA. The bottleneck of the operation was the transfer of the lumber from the mill at Bella Vista to the nearest rail connection, which was 10 miles away in Anderson CA and on the wrong side of the Sacramento River. In about 1891, work began on the Anderson & Bella Vista Railroad down the valley of Cow Creek to the Southern Pacific railhead in Anderson. The railroad was abandoned in the 1930s and torn up shortly after.

The distance of this lumber flume was 32-miles long from its start at Hatchet Mountain to its dumping point. From the dump, the Shasta Lumber Company wanted to continue construction of the lumber flume towards Anderson, but the valley terrain was too level to allow the lumber flume to operate and they had to think of additional methods to transport their lumber from the dump to the Southern Pacific's station in Anderson for their product to be shipped to the market.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 26.6 square miles (69.0 km2), 99.26% of it land and 0.74% of it water.

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1850–1870 1880-1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Bella Vista first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. census.

The 2020 United States census reported that Bella Vista had a population of 3,641. The population density was 137.7 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Bella Vista was 86.4% White, 0.2% African American, 1.8% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 8.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.0% of the population.

The census reported that 99.9% of the population lived in households, 0.1% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized.

There were 1,390 households, out of which 26.1% included children under the age of 18, 60.6% were married-couple households, 5.4% were cohabiting couple households, 18.4% had a female householder with no partner present, and 15.5% had a male householder with no partner present. 19.1% of households were one person, and 9.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.62. There were 1,054 families (75.8% of all households).

The age distribution was 19.0% under the age of 18, 6.2% aged 18 to 24, 18.1% aged 25 to 44, 29.7% aged 45 to 64, and 26.9% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 51.0years. For every 100 females, there were 104.7 males.

There were 1,464 housing units at an average density of 55.4 /mi2, of which 1,390 (94.9%) were occupied. Of these, 87.4% were owner-occupied, and 12.6% were occupied by renters.

Politics

In the state legislature, Bella Vista is located in , and .

Federally, Bella Vista is in .

Education

• Bella Vista Elementary School District

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. {{gnis. 2582942
3. "Decennial Census by Decade".
4. "1870 Census of Population - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties - California - Almeda County to Sutter County".
5. "1870 Census of Population - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties - California - Tehama County to Yuba County".
6. "1890 Census of Population - Population of California by Minor Civil Divisions".
7. "1900 Census of Population - Population of California by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions".
8. "1910 Census of Population - Supplement for California".
9. "1920 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
10. "1930 Census of Population - Number and Distribution of Inhabitants - California".
11. "1940 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
12. "1950 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
13. "1960 Census of Population - General population Characteristics - California".
14. "1970 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
15. "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - California".
16. "1990 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
17. "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
18. "2010 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - California".
19. "Bella Vista CDP, California; DP1: Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
20. "Bella Vista CDP, California; P16: Household Type - 2020 Census of Population and Housing".
21. "Senators". State of California.
22. "Members Assembly". State of California.
23. {{Cite GovTrack. CA. 1