A Look Back in History: Stream Flows in San Mateo County

The following letter dated January 21, 1918 from the SFPUC Archives reports on Peninsula Stream Flows.

Letter dated January 21, 1918 from the SFPUC Archives reports on Peninsula Stream Flows.

Frenchmans Creek is a 4.4-mile-long stream in San Mateo County. Frenchmans Creek runs through privately owned land on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay. Though surrounded in its lower reaches by agricultural land, it supports wildlife habitat and, until recently, steelhead salmon spawning grounds.

Frenchman’s Creek. Half Moon Bay State Beach. Photo courtesy: FASTILY Wikimedia Commons.

Purisima Creek and several of its tributaries flow through the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space. The Preserve is located on the western slopes of historic Kings Mountain in Woodside, California. This 4,471-acre preserve was established with a $2 million gift from the Save the Redwoods League.

Purisima Creek Open Space Preserve 7. Photo courtesy: Oleg Alexandrov Wikimedia Commons.

Lobitos Creek is a small river in San Mateo County. Rogers Gulch and Schoolhouse Creek are small stream tributaries of Lobitos Creek.

OSRR with Lobitos and Tunitas Stations. Right of Way and Track Map. Photo courtesy: Ocean Shore Railway Wikimedia Commons.

Tunitas Creek is a 6.6-mile-long stream in San Mateo County. Tunitas is Spanish for “little prickly pears”. An all-weather paved county road, Tunitas Creek Road, follows the creek from its source at 1,860 feet on Kings Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific Ocean at Tunitas Beach.

Tunitas Creek Beach in Half Moon Bay, California. Photo courtesy: Rhododendrites Wikimedia Commons.

Pilarcitos Creek is a 13.5-mile-long coastal stream in San Mateo County, that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and descends through Pilarcitos Canyon to discharge into the Pacific Ocean Half Moon Bay State Beach.

Pilarcitos Creek Bridge, Main St. across Pilarcitos Creek, in Half Moon Bay, California. A bronze plaque on one wall reads:
First Concrete Bridge Erected In
San Mateo County 1900
J. Debenedetti Supervisor
D. Bromfield & C. Tobey Jr. Engineers
R. C. Mattingly & W. Heafey Contractors.
Photo courtesy: Burnell G West of Half Moon Bay, CA Wikimedia Commons.

San Gregorio Creek is a river in San Mateo County. Its tributaries originate on the western ridges of the Santa Cruz Mountains whence it courses southwest through steep forested canyons.

Pescadero Creek is a major stream in Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties. At 26.6 miles (42.8 km), it is the longest stream in San Mateo County and flows all year from springs in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Pescadero is Spanish for “fishing place”. In spring 2015, three Coho Salmon were discovered spawning in Pescadero Creek.

Pescadero Creek Pescadero Creek County Park Pescadero, CA. Photo courtesy: Franco Folini from San Francisco, USA – Pescadero Creek, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85319773. Wikimedia Commons.

Butano Creek is a principal river in San Mateo County and carries a large amount of the runoff of the Santa Cruz Mountains into the Pacific Ocean after joining the Pescadero Creek delta at Pescadero Marsh. The creek is 15.0 miles long.

A portion of the Butano Creek Restoration Project, located above Pescadero, California. USFWS Photo/Steve Martarano. Photo courtesy: By Pacific Southwest Region USFWS from Sacramento, US – Butano Creek 2017-07-06, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68987288. Wikimedia Commons.