Smartsville, California

Smartsville is a census-designated place in Yuba County, California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It is one of the many historic towns in California's gold country, and is today a California Historical Landmark. Located at an altitude of 669ft Smartsville lies about 15mi east-northeast of Marysville, along State Route 20. The population was 177 at the 2010 census.HistorySmartsville is named for Jim Smart, a local hotel proprietor during the days of the Gold Rush. Smartsville has been noted for its unusual place name. Extensive placer mining tailings remain throughout the area.A post office was opened at Smartville in 1865. Due to a ruling by the U.S. Post Office Department (now the U.S. Postal Service), Smartsville became Smartville in 1909; this change was strengthened by a similar ruling by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1947. In August 2008, the Board on Geographic Names ruled in favor of the form "Smartsville."The Smartville Cemetery is a historic cemetery.GeologySmartville gave its name to the Smartville Block, a co-extensive oceanic geologic terrane formed by plate tectonics in the western foothills of the central Sierra Nevada and west into the Central Valley. The presence of gold in the Mother Lode Gold Country was found to coincide with the suture line of the Smartville Block terrane and the North American Plate.