Laguna Creek
Encyclopedia
Laguna Creek is a perennial stream that flows northeasterly 2.6 miles (4.2 km) along the San Andreas Fault
from Woodside
in San Mateo County, California
, and after crossing the Phleger Estate
and Filoli
, enters Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir
, where it was a historic tributary to San Mateo Creek. San Mateo Creek then carries its waters over Crystal Springs Dam northeast to San Francisco Bay
.
on November 4, 1769, the Portolà expedition
descended what Portolà
called the Cañada de San Francisco, now known as San Andreas Creek
, to its confluence with San Mateo Creek. Just downstream from here was Laguna Creek's confluence with San Mateo Creek. Crossing San Mateo Creek just above its canyon, Portola's party proceeded south along Laguna Creek and camped on a lake called by him Laguna Grande, now covered by Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir
. The campsite is marked by California Historical Marker No. 94 "Portola Expedition Camp", located at Crystal Springs Dam, on Skyline Boulevard, 0.1 mi south of Crystal Springs Road. Then Portola continued south and descended from the foothills along San Francisquito Creek
to established his base camp at El Palo Alto
, in modern day Palo Alto, California
. The Laguna Creek and Laguna Grande place names are shown on the 1856 plat maps/diseños of Rancho de las Pulgas
and Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
and Easton's 1868 map of San Mateo County.
Raimundo, a native of Baja
was sent out by the padres of Mission Santa Clara to capture runaway Mission Indians in 1797. On August 4, 1840 he was granted the Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
and on the 1856 Rancho Pulgas and 1868 Easton maps, the valley of Laguna Creek was referred to as the Cañada de Raymundo and Laguna Grande became alternatively known as Lake Raymundo.
The two Crystal Springs lakes and San Andreas Lake used to be known as Spring Valley Lakes for the Spring Valley Water Company which owned them. The Spring Valley Water Company named the lakes, the Spring Valley Lakes, after the company. The original Spring Valley was between Mason and Taylor Streets, and Washington and Broadway Streets in San Francisco
, where the water company started. When the company went south for more water, the Spring Valley name was carried south too. Laguna Grande was submerged when the Spring Valley Water Company built an earthen dam in 1877 (this was the first Crystal Springs Dam), forming Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir. The old earthen dam became a causeway between Upper and Lower Crystal Springs Reservoirs when the latter was formed by Herman Schussler's concrete Crystal Springs Dam, which dammed up San Mateo Creek to form the lower reservoir in 1888. The causeway is now crossed by Highway 92
.
Filoli
, the estate of Spring Valley Water Company tycoon William Bourn, is now an historic site. The staff there currently refers to Laguna Creek as "Orchard Creek", and its tributaries on the historic estate as Fault Creek and Spring Creek.
and Pulgas Water Temple
just before entering Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir. Adobe Gulch is the northernmost of several tributaries (and the only one named by the USGS) that descend the eastern flank of the Santa Cruz Mountains
to Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir (and historically, Laguna Creek).
may play a key role in the precipitation in the upper watershed. On Cahill Ridge (just west of San Mateo Creek and east of Pilarcitos Creek
, at an altitude of 1,000 feet, Oberlander measured fog drip beneath Tanoak
(Lithocarpus densiflorus), Coast redwood and three Douglas fir trees, the latter 125 feet tall. He found that the trees most exposed produced the most precipitation and in five weeks of measurement (July 20-August 28, 1951) fog drip below the tanoak produced 59 inches of precipitation, more than the total annual precipitation on nearby grasslands and chaparral. The Douglas fir produced 7-17 inches of fog drip and appeared to provide unique conditions supporting the orchids Giant helleborine
(Epipactis gigantea) and Phantom orchid
(Cephalanthera austiniae), since these plants were found exclusively in these moist ridge tops.
The headwaters of Laguna Creek are just north of Interstate 280 in the Edgewood County Park and Nature Preserve, where the Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve work to preserve the unique serpentine native grasslands, habitat which is critical to the threatened Bay Checkerspot
butterfly (Euphydryas editha bayensis).
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
from Woodside
Woodside, California
Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It uses a council-manager system of government. The U.S. Census estimated the population of the town to be 5,287 in 2010....
in San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...
, and after crossing the Phleger Estate
Phleger Estate
The Phleger Estate is a park in San Mateo County, California. The park is located outside the town of Woodside and adjacent to Huddart County Park...
and Filoli
Filoli
Filoli is a country house set in of formal gardens surrounded by estate, located in Woodside, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, at the southern end of Crystal Springs Lake, on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains....
, enters Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir
Crystal Springs Reservoir
Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hillsborough, and I-280...
, where it was a historic tributary to San Mateo Creek. San Mateo Creek then carries its waters over Crystal Springs Dam northeast to San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
.
History
After discovering San Francisco Bay from Sweeney RidgeSweeney Ridge
Sweeney Ridge, a national park in Pacifica, California, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Historically, the ridge was the location of the San Francisco Bay Discovery Site, as part of the Portolá Expedition on November 4, 1769.-Description:...
on November 4, 1769, the Portolà expedition
Portola expedition
250px|right|Point of San Francisco Bay DiscoveryThe Portolá Expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá from July 14, 1769 to January 24, 1770. It was the first recorded Spanish land entry and exploration of present day California, United States...
descended what Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Catalan nobility. Don Gaspar served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...
called the Cañada de San Francisco, now known as San Andreas Creek
San Andreas Creek
San Andrés Creek , now called San Andreas Creek, is a perennial stream that flows miles southeasterly along the San Andreas Fault from Sweeney Ridge in San Mateo County, California, providing the inflow to and outflow from San Andreas Reservoir, and then entering Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir,...
, to its confluence with San Mateo Creek. Just downstream from here was Laguna Creek's confluence with San Mateo Creek. Crossing San Mateo Creek just above its canyon, Portola's party proceeded south along Laguna Creek and camped on a lake called by him Laguna Grande, now covered by Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir
Crystal Springs Reservoir
Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hillsborough, and I-280...
. The campsite is marked by California Historical Marker No. 94 "Portola Expedition Camp", located at Crystal Springs Dam, on Skyline Boulevard, 0.1 mi south of Crystal Springs Road. Then Portola continued south and descended from the foothills along San Francisquito Creek
San Francisquito Creek
San Francisquito Creek is a creek that flows into southwest San Francisco Bay in California, United States of America. Historically it was called the Arroyo de San Francisco by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776...
to established his base camp at El Palo Alto
El Palo Alto
El Palo Alto is a coast redwood tree located in El Palo Alto Park on the banks of San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto, California, United States...
, in modern day Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. The Laguna Creek and Laguna Grande place names are shown on the 1856 plat maps/diseños of Rancho de las Pulgas
Rancho de las Pulgas
Rancho de las Pulgas was a 1795 Spanish land grant in present day San Mateo County, California to José Darío Argüello. The name means "Ranch of the Fleas". The grant was bounded by San Mateo Creek on the north and San Francisquito Creek on the south, and extended about one league from San...
and Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
Rancho Cañada de Raymundo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to John Coppinger. The two and one half league long by three quarter league wide grant consisted the eastern slopes and valleys in the present day Woodside area...
and Easton's 1868 map of San Mateo County.
Raimundo, a native of Baja
Baja
-Geography:* Baja California peninsula, a peninsula in North America* States of Mexico** Baja California** Baja California Sur* Baja Arizona* Baja, Hungary* Baja Verapaz, a department of Guatemala...
was sent out by the padres of Mission Santa Clara to capture runaway Mission Indians in 1797. On August 4, 1840 he was granted the Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
Rancho Cañada de Raymundo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to John Coppinger. The two and one half league long by three quarter league wide grant consisted the eastern slopes and valleys in the present day Woodside area...
and on the 1856 Rancho Pulgas and 1868 Easton maps, the valley of Laguna Creek was referred to as the Cañada de Raymundo and Laguna Grande became alternatively known as Lake Raymundo.
The two Crystal Springs lakes and San Andreas Lake used to be known as Spring Valley Lakes for the Spring Valley Water Company which owned them. The Spring Valley Water Company named the lakes, the Spring Valley Lakes, after the company. The original Spring Valley was between Mason and Taylor Streets, and Washington and Broadway Streets in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, where the water company started. When the company went south for more water, the Spring Valley name was carried south too. Laguna Grande was submerged when the Spring Valley Water Company built an earthen dam in 1877 (this was the first Crystal Springs Dam), forming Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir. The old earthen dam became a causeway between Upper and Lower Crystal Springs Reservoirs when the latter was formed by Herman Schussler's concrete Crystal Springs Dam, which dammed up San Mateo Creek to form the lower reservoir in 1888. The causeway is now crossed by Highway 92
California State Route 92
State Route 92 is an east-west highway in the San Francisco Bay area between Half Moon Bay near the coast in the west and downtown Hayward at its junction with State Route 238 and State Route 185. It is most notable for being the route that traverses the San Mateo Bridge. It has interchanges with...
.
Filoli
Filoli
Filoli is a country house set in of formal gardens surrounded by estate, located in Woodside, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, at the southern end of Crystal Springs Lake, on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains....
, the estate of Spring Valley Water Company tycoon William Bourn, is now an historic site. The staff there currently refers to Laguna Creek as "Orchard Creek", and its tributaries on the historic estate as Fault Creek and Spring Creek.
Watershed
Laguna Creek used to be 1.8 miles longer, or 4.4 miles (7.1 km) total, before its confluence with San Mateo Creek was submerged by the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir in 1888. After descending the western slope of Edgewood County Park it is joined on the left (heading downstream) by the South Fork Laguna Creek, then locally named Fault Creek, then Spring Creek, then on the right by the Hetch Hetchy AqueductHetch Hetchy Aqueduct
The Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct is a conveyance of Tuolumne River water runoff from federal lands in Yosemite National Park to San Francisco and its client municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area...
and Pulgas Water Temple
Pulgas Water Temple
The Pulgas Water Temple is a stone structure in Woodside, California, USA, designed by architect William G. Merchant. It was erected by the San Francisco Water Department to commemorate the 1934 completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct and is located at the aqueduct's terminus...
just before entering Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir. Adobe Gulch is the northernmost of several tributaries (and the only one named by the USGS) that descend the eastern flank of the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...
to Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir (and historically, Laguna Creek).
Ecology
Fog dripFog drip
Fog drip is a type of precipitation that forms when fog droplets condense on the needles or leaves of trees or other objects, and drips to the ground....
may play a key role in the precipitation in the upper watershed. On Cahill Ridge (just west of San Mateo Creek and east of Pilarcitos Creek
Pilarcitos Creek
Pilarcitos Creek is a coastal stream in San Mateo County, California, USA, that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and descends through Pilarcitos Canyon to discharge into the Pacific Ocean at Pilarcitos Creek Beach, a unit of Half Moon Bay State Beach.-History:The Portolà...
, at an altitude of 1,000 feet, Oberlander measured fog drip beneath Tanoak
Tanoak
Tanoak, formerly known taxonomically as Lithocarpus densiflorus, was recently moved into a new genus, Notholithocarpus, based on multiple lines of evidence....
(Lithocarpus densiflorus), Coast redwood and three Douglas fir trees, the latter 125 feet tall. He found that the trees most exposed produced the most precipitation and in five weeks of measurement (July 20-August 28, 1951) fog drip below the tanoak produced 59 inches of precipitation, more than the total annual precipitation on nearby grasslands and chaparral. The Douglas fir produced 7-17 inches of fog drip and appeared to provide unique conditions supporting the orchids Giant helleborine
Epipactis gigantea
Epipactis gigantea is a species of orchid known by the common names stream orchid and giant helleborine. This wildflower is native to western North America from western Canada to central Mexico...
(Epipactis gigantea) and Phantom orchid
Cephalanthera austiniae
Cephalanthera austiniae is a species of orchid known by the common names phantom orchid and snow orchid because the entire plant is white. Native to the western United States and Canada, it is the only species of genus Cephalanthera found outside of Europe and Asia, and the only one entirely...
(Cephalanthera austiniae), since these plants were found exclusively in these moist ridge tops.
The headwaters of Laguna Creek are just north of Interstate 280 in the Edgewood County Park and Nature Preserve, where the Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve work to preserve the unique serpentine native grasslands, habitat which is critical to the threatened Bay Checkerspot
Bay Checkerspot
--173.79.54.79 21:10, 1 December 2011 The Bay Checkerspot is a threatened insect subspecies which is native to the U.S. State of . Since the 23911s the population of checkerspots has been in serious decline...
butterfly (Euphydryas editha bayensis).
See also
- List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
- FiloliFiloliFiloli is a country house set in of formal gardens surrounded by estate, located in Woodside, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, at the southern end of Crystal Springs Lake, on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains....
- San Mateo Creek
External links
- {http://www.friendsofedgewood.org Friends of Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve]
- Phleger Estate/Golden Gate National Recreation Area web page
- Filoli Historic Estate web page