USGS Place Names
in Alameda County
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Source: USGS, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). April 2007. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic

"The GNIS contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all types in the United States, associated areas, and Antarctica, current and historical, but not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates. Other attributes include names or spellings other than the official name, feature designations, feature classification, historical and descriptive information, and for some categories the geometric boundaries."

"A feature with '(historical)' following the name no longer exists and is no longer visible on the landscape. Examples: a dried up lake, a destroyed building, a hill leveled by mining. The term makes no reference to the age, size, population, use, or any other aspect of the feature. A ghost town, for example, is not a historical feature if it is still visible. Valid features are never removed from the database, but become historical if they no longer exist. The GNIS is unique in containing such features, and additional data concerning historical features based on authenticated documentation is welcome."