A Brief Congestion

A couple of years ago, we noted that Alpine County, the least populous of California’s 58, was enjoying a period of remarkable stability. According to state Department of Finance estimates, Alpine’s population at the start of 1997 was exactly what it was in January of 1996: 1,180 souls. We have now discovered that Alpine had a growth spurt during the first half of 1997, booming to an estimated 1,200 at midyear. Since then, however, there’s been a drop-off back to 1,180. There were seven births and seven deaths. Twenty people moved away. Must have seemed downright crowded for a while.

Alpine is a 739-square-mile enclave--slightly smaller than Orange County--southeast of Lake Tahoe. It abuts Nevada to the east. There are three population centers, so to speak: the villages of Woodfords and Markleeville on the east and, across 8,731-foot-high Ebbetts Pass on state Route 4, the area around the Bear Valley ski area.

Alpine was one of a dozen California counties losing population during the year ending July 1, 1998. All but one, Imperial, are in the mountain or foothill regions of Northern California. Alpine is in no danger of losing its least-populous status even if there’s another boom. No. 2 is Sierra County with 3,310 residents.

As small as Alpine County is, it’s far from the least populated in the country. That honor appears to go to Loving County, Tex., with 106 residents. Now that’s real elbow room.