Capay, California

For the community in Glenn County, see Capay, Glenn County, California.

Capay
Unincorporated community
Capay Location in California
Coordinates: 38°42′28″N 122°02′53″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Yolo County
Elevation [1]	210 ft (64 m)
ZIP code	95607
Area code	530
GNIS feature ID	220568

Capay (Wintun: Kapai, meaning "Stream")^[2][3][4] is an unincorporated community in Yolo County, California.^[5][1] It is located on Cache Creek 2 miles (3.2 km) west-northwest of Esparto,^[6] in the Capay Valley, in the northwestern part of the county. Capay's ZIP Code is 95607 and its area code 530. It lies at an elevation of 210 feet (64 m).

History

Rumsey Branch of SP in 1905 at Capay and Esparto

Capay is located on the Mexican land grant Rancho Cañada de Capay. Capay was originally named Munchville after one of the first white settlers, a man named Munch, who built a house on the Cache Creek at the site in 1857.^[7] Mr. Empyre and Mr. Munch built a two-story building in the area.^[5] The town acquired the name Langville after John A. Lang.^[5] In 1870, Lang operated a hotel and owned a brick yard and a store. Langville grew enough to have a town plat filed on January 1, 1875, which renamed the town as Capay.^[5]

A post office opened in Capay in 1868.^[6]

Climate

This region experiences hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Capay has a typical Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.^[8]

References

1. "Feature Detail Report for: Capay (Yolo County, California)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
2. California Place Names of Indian Origin (Kroeber, 1916)
3. Online Archive of California - The ethno-geography of the Pomo and neighboring Indians
4. Bright, William (1998). 1500 California Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
5. Three Maps of Yolo County. Woodland, CA: Yolo County Historical Society. 1970. p. 6.
6. Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 461. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
7. Thomas Jefferson Gregory, History of Yolo County, California (1913), available online at Internet Archive
8. Climate Summary for Capay, California