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Smithflat, California

unincorporated community in California

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ14683998
Source-derived summary

Smithflat (formerly, Smith's Flat, Smiths Flat, and Smith Flat) is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California, United States. It lies 4 km (2.5 mi) east of Placerville and 7.2 km (4.5 mi) west of Camino at an elevation of 2224 feet (678 m).

The Smith's Flat post office opened in 1876 and was renamed to Smithflat in 1895. The name honors Jeb Smith, a rancher who settled here early.

Smithflat was one of the 93 wagon train stops along the Johnson Pass route across the Sierra Nevada. The Smith Flat House, built in the 1850s, is the last of these stations still in existence. It is now a restaurant.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Smithflat, California” as unincorporated community in California. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1895—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Smithflat, California and unincorporated can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as unincorporated community in California. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14683998. Authority coordinates are 38.735, -120.755. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876 and 1895.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Smithflat, California”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Smithflat, California primary sources, Smithflat, California archive and Smithflat research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Smithflat, California”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Smithflat, California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.