Lower Lake, California

Lower Lake is a census-designated place in the southern Clear Lake region of Lake County, in northern California. Lower Lake is also an Indian rancheria of the Koi Nation people.GeographyLower Lake is located 4.5 miles (7.2 km) southwest of the City of Clearlake, and 13mi southeast of Kelseyville. It is at an elevation of 1371 feet (418 m). Lower Lake was at one point the county seat, the Lake County elections of 1867 were hotly contested with the seat moving between what is now the city of Lakeport and the town of Lower Lake, in 1870 the feud was settled and Lakeport controlled the seat. Although some believe the seat was stolen from Lower Lake, it has remained in Lakeport for over a century and no longer a topic of concern for locals. At the 2000 census, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP had a total area of 7.9sqmi, of which 7.9sqmi was land and 0.1sqmi (0.88%) was water.HistoryLower Lake was founded by E. Mitchell in 1858 as Grantville. He built the first house there. The settlement's first post office was opened in 1858.The population was 1,294 at the 2010 census, down from 1,755 at the 2000 census.The Clayton Fire started on August 12, 2016 in areas of Lake County not burned in the Valley and Rocky Point Jerusalem Fires which ravaged Lake County in the summer of 2015. On Sunday afternoon, August 14, all residents of the town were evacuated and fire razed large parts of the downtown and other areas of Lower Lake.