San Mateo Creek
Encyclopedia
San Mateo Creek is a perennial stream whose watershed includes Crystal Springs Reservoir
, for which it is the only natural outlet after passing Crystal Springs Dam.
on November 4, 1769, the Portolà expedition
descended what Portolà
called the Cañada de San Francisco, now San Andreas Creek
, to camp the next day at a '"Laguna Grande" which today is covered by the 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. They camped here a second time on November 12, on their return trip. The Laguna Grande place name is also shown on the 1840's diseño del Rancho Cañada de Raymundo
and an 1856 plat. Padre Palóu
, on an expedition from Monterey to explore the western side of San Francisco Bay led by Captain Rivera
, renamed Portola's Cañada de San Francisco to Cañada de San Andrés on November 30, 1774, it being the feast day of St. Andrew. Captain Juan Bautista de Anza
, after forging the first overland route from Monterey, California
to San Francisco Bay, explored the peninsula and selected the sites for Mission San Francisco de Asís
(Mission Dolores) and the Presidio of San Francisco
. De Anza returned to Monterey via the Cañada de San Andrés and camped on the banks of San Mateo Creek
on March 29, 1776. In de Anza's diary on March 29, 1776, he wrote: "Night having fallen, at a quarter past six I went down to the arroyo of San Andreas and to another, that of San Matheo, where it descends to empty into the estuary. There I found in our camp nearly all the men of the village, very friendly, content, and joyful, putting themselves out to serve us in every way, a circumstance which I have noted in all the natives seen from the 26th up to now, but one which I had not experienced theretofore since leaving the people of the Colorado River." Shortly thereafter, a party of families, soldiers, and priests, on their way to establish San Francisco, also camped here for three days, June 24–27, 1776. A plaque labelled "California State Historial Landmark No. 47 Anza Expedition Camp" is located at Arroyo Court, one block west on West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo.
. The northeast arm of Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir is formed by San Mateo Creek's tributary, San Andreas Creek
which descends to the Reservoir southeast along the San Andreas Rift. Another tributary, Laguna Creek
, flows northwards from Woodside
with its source on Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve, and historically fed Laguna Grande and then joined San Mateo Creek just upstream from Crystal Springs Canyon, where San Mateo Creek turned east to flow through the canyon. Laguna Grande was submerged when an earthen dam (this was the first Crystal Springs Dam) was constructed in 1877, 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 in 1888 to form the lower reservoir. The causeway is now crossed by Highway 92
. In addition to San Mateo Creek and its San Andreas Creek and Laguna Creek tributaries, the waters of Crystal Springs Reservoir consist of runoff from the eastern slopes of the Montara block of the Santa Cruz Mountains
and imported Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct
water deriving from the Sierra Nevada. 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. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir now covers the town of Crystal Springs which grew up around a resort of the same name.
From the Crystal Springs Dam
San Mateo Creek flows generally northeast 8 km (5 mi) through San Mateo where it is partly intermittent and altered, to San Francisco Bay about 1.1 km (0.7 mi) west of the mouth of Seal Slough. This watercourse
lies entirely within San Mateo County
and flows generally eastward to discharge into San Francisco Bay
.
(Oncorhynchus kisutch) as evidenced by specimens collected by Professor Alexander Agassiz
of Harvard University
in the 1850s and 1860s. He also collected Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss]] from the creek. Historical records indicate that Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) occurred in at least two San Francisco Bay Area
watersheds, San Mateo Creek in San Mateo County and San Leandro Creek
in Alameda County.
Fog drip
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 upper reach of the lower watershed of San Mateo Creek below Crystal Springs Dam
consists of open space and sparsely developed residential areas of the cities of Hillsborough
and San Mateo, California
.
This upper reach consists of closed canopy California oak woodland
and serpentine grassland
. The creek roughly parallels Crystal Springs Road through this section. Due to the unusual microclimate
and presence of abundant serpentine there are an unusual number of rare plants in the upper catchment basin.
The middle reach consists of increasingly dense single family and multifamily residential land use along with some adjacent school, park and commercial uses. In the lower phase of the middle reach, San Mateo Creek is fully culvert
ed through downtown San Mateo
. In the lowest reach San Mateo Creek becomes tidal and discharges to San Francisco Bay
between Ryder Park and Seal Point Park.
The creek mouth area contains slough
and wetland
habitats including mudflat
s that are known habitat
of the endangered California Clapper Rail
. San Mateo Creek was federally designated in 2002 as a section 303 impaired watershed for the substance diazinon
; however, diazinon
has been banned for golf course use by the U.S. Government. There is one golf course that provides surface runoff
to San Mateo Creek in the city of San Mateo, and Crystal Springs Golf Course that drains to the 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...
, for which it is the only natural outlet after passing Crystal Springs Dam.
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 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 camp the next day at a '"Laguna Grande" which today is covered by the 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. They camped here a second time on November 12, on their return trip. The Laguna Grande place name is also shown on the 1840's diseño del 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 an 1856 plat. Padre Palóu
Francisco Palóu
Francesc Palou was a Franciscan missionary, administrator, and historian on the Baja California peninsula and in Alta California. Father Palou's made significant contributions to the Alta California and Baja California mission systems...
, on an expedition from Monterey to explore the western side of San Francisco Bay led by Captain Rivera
Fernando Rivera y Moncada
Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada was a soldier from New Spain who served in the Baja California peninsula and upper Las Californias, participating in several early overland explorations. Fernando Rivera y Moncada served as a Spanish Miilitary Governor from 1774-1777. -Biography:Rivera was born...
, renamed Portola's Cañada de San Francisco to Cañada de San Andrés on November 30, 1774, it being the feast day of St. Andrew. Captain Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was a Novo-Spanish explorer and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire.-Early life:...
, after forging the first overland route from Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
to San Francisco Bay, explored the peninsula and selected the sites for Mission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís
Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
(Mission Dolores) and the Presidio of San Francisco
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
. De Anza returned to Monterey via the Cañada de San Andrés and camped on the banks of San Mateo Creek
San Mateo Creek
San Mateo Creek is a perennial stream whose watershed includes Crystal Springs Reservoir, for which it is the only natural outlet after passing Crystal Springs Dam.-History:...
on March 29, 1776. In de Anza's diary on March 29, 1776, he wrote: "Night having fallen, at a quarter past six I went down to the arroyo of San Andreas and to another, that of San Matheo, where it descends to empty into the estuary. There I found in our camp nearly all the men of the village, very friendly, content, and joyful, putting themselves out to serve us in every way, a circumstance which I have noted in all the natives seen from the 26th up to now, but one which I had not experienced theretofore since leaving the people of the Colorado River." Shortly thereafter, a party of families, soldiers, and priests, on their way to establish San Francisco, also camped here for three days, June 24–27, 1776. A plaque labelled "California State Historial Landmark No. 47 Anza Expedition Camp" is located at Arroyo Court, one block west on West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo.
Watershed
San Mateo Creek's source elevation is at almost 1,000 feet on Sweeney Ridge from which it flows southeasterly (in a valley east of Cahill Ridge and west of Sawyer Ridge) for 11.2 km (7 mi) before entering the northwest arm of Lower Crystal Springs ReservoirCrystal 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 northeast arm of Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir is formed by San Mateo Creek's tributary, 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,...
which descends to the Reservoir southeast along the San Andreas Rift. Another tributary, Laguna Creek
Laguna Creek
Laguna Creek is a perennial stream that flows northeasterly 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...
, flows northwards 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....
with its source on Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve, and historically fed Laguna Grande and then joined San Mateo Creek just upstream from Crystal Springs Canyon, where San Mateo Creek turned east to flow through the canyon. Laguna Grande was submerged when an earthen dam (this was the first Crystal Springs Dam) was constructed in 1877, 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 in 1888 to form the lower reservoir. 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...
. In addition to San Mateo Creek and its San Andreas Creek and Laguna Creek tributaries, the waters of Crystal Springs Reservoir consist of runoff from the eastern slopes of the Montara block 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,...
and imported Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct
Hetch 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...
water deriving from the Sierra Nevada. 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. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir now covers the town of Crystal Springs which grew up around a resort of the same name.
From the Crystal Springs Dam
Crystal Springs Dam
Crystal Springs Dam is a gravity dam constructed across the San Mateo Creek, impounding water to form the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County, California....
San Mateo Creek flows generally northeast 8 km (5 mi) through San Mateo where it is partly intermittent and altered, to San Francisco Bay about 1.1 km (0.7 mi) west of the mouth of Seal Slough. This watercourse
Watercourse
A watercourse is any flowing body of water. These include rivers, streams, anabranches, and so forth.-See also:* physical geography* Environmental flow* Waterway* Hydrology* Wadi-External links:...
lies entirely within San Mateo County
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 flows generally eastward to discharge into 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...
.
Ecology
San Mateo Creek once hosted Coho salmonCoho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
(Oncorhynchus kisutch) as evidenced by specimens collected by Professor Alexander Agassiz
Alexander Emanuel Agassiz
Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz , son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer.-Biography:...
of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in the 1850s and 1860s. He also collected Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss]] from the creek. Historical records indicate that Chinook salmon
Chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) occurred in at least two San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
watersheds, San Mateo Creek in San Mateo County and San Leandro Creek
San Leandro Creek
San Leandro Creek is a year-round natural stream flowing along the east side of the range which comprises the Berkeley Hills and the San Leandro Hills, immediately east of Oakland. In the hills, it runs into Upper San Leandro Reservoir and then Lake Chabot, both manmade lakes lying north of the...
in Alameda County.
Fog drip
Fog 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 upper reach of the lower watershed of San Mateo Creek below Crystal Springs Dam
Crystal Springs Dam
Crystal Springs Dam is a gravity dam constructed across the San Mateo Creek, impounding water to form the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo County, California....
consists of open space and sparsely developed residential areas of the cities of Hillsborough
Hillsborough, California
Hillsborough is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hillsborough is one of the wealthiest communities in America and has the highest income of places in the United States with populations of at least 10,000...
and San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
.
This upper reach consists of closed canopy California oak woodland
California oak woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...
and serpentine grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
. The creek roughly parallels Crystal Springs Road through this section. Due to the unusual microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
and presence of abundant serpentine there are an unusual number of rare plants in the upper catchment basin.
The middle reach consists of increasingly dense single family and multifamily residential land use along with some adjacent school, park and commercial uses. In the lower phase of the middle reach, San Mateo Creek is fully culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
ed through downtown San Mateo
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
. In the lowest reach San Mateo Creek becomes tidal and discharges 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...
between Ryder Park and Seal Point Park.
The creek mouth area contains slough
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
and wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
habitats including mudflat
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...
s that are known habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
of the endangered California Clapper Rail
California Clapper Rail
The California Clapper Rail is an endangered subspecies of the Clapper Rail . It is found principally in California's San Francisco Bay, and also in Monterey Bay and Morro Bay...
. San Mateo Creek was federally designated in 2002 as a section 303 impaired watershed for the substance diazinon
Diazinon
Diazinon , a colorless to dark brown liquid, is a thiophosphoric acid ester developed in 1952 by Ciba-Geigy, a Swiss chemical company...
; however, diazinon
Diazinon
Diazinon , a colorless to dark brown liquid, is a thiophosphoric acid ester developed in 1952 by Ciba-Geigy, a Swiss chemical company...
has been banned for golf course use by the U.S. Government. There is one golf course that provides surface runoff
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
to San Mateo Creek in the city of San Mateo, and Crystal Springs Golf Course that drains to the Crystal Springs Reservoir.
See also
- List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
- OhloneOhloneThe Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...
- Salt Marsh Harvest MouseSalt Marsh Harvest MouseThe Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse , also known as the Red-bellied Harvest Mouse and some times called by Saltmarsh Harvest Mouse, is an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area salt marshes in California. There are two distinct subspecies, both endangered and listed together on federal...
- San Mateo Woolly Sunflower