Cordilleras Creek

Cordilleras Creek is a 3.8-mile-long (6.1 km)[4] northward-flowing stream originating in the Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It forms the border between San Carlos and Redwood City in San Mateo County, California, United States before entering Smith Slough where its waters course to Steinberger Slough and thence to San Francisco Bay.

Cordilleras Creek
Arroyo de los Cadillos,
Finger's Arroyo,[1]
Cordillas Creek[2]
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionSan Mateo County
CitiesRedwood City, San Carlos
Physical characteristics
SourcePulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains
 • locationSan Carlos, California
 • coordinates37°28′39″N 122°17′55″W[3]
 • elevation424 ft (129 m)
MouthSmith Slough in west San Francisco Bay
 • location
Redwood City, California
 • coordinates
37°29′55″N 122°14′28″W[3]
 • elevation
13 ft (4.0 m)[3]

History

Historically, the creek was known as Arroyo de los Cadillos which means "Cockleburr Creek" in Spanish.[1] Simon Theodore Finger settled on the Redwood City side of the creek in 1855 and planted a vineyard as well as olives.[5] Born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1816, Theodore (as he was known) was listed in the 1860 U.S. Census as a farmer. The Arroyo de los Cadillos was generally misspelled as Cordillas. By 1862, it was known as Finger's Arroyo, then later Finger's Creek or Finger Creek. In 1877 the San Mateo County map shows it as Cordillas Creek; the Wellesley Park subdivision map labelled it Cordilleras Creek in 1888, and the USGS accepted this name in 1895. Local residents still called it Finger Creek for many years.[2]

Watershed and course

From its beginnings in the Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve in San Carlos, just northwest of Interstate 280, Cordilleras Creek receives additional tributaries from Edgewood County Park and flows northwesterly along Edgewood Road. North of U. S. Highway 101, Cordilleras Creek flows into Smith Slough at the San Carlos airport, then Steinberger Slough and thence into San Francisco Bay. The Cordilleras Creek watershed includes Steinberger Slough, and its Pulgas Creek tributary.[6] Cordilleras Creek drains 3.3 square miles (8.5 km2).[7]

Habitat and wildlife

No steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were found in a fish sampling study in 1981. Leidy concluded that there was insufficient information to know whether Cordilleras Creek once supported trout or not.[8] However, a possible steelhead carcass was found in 2002 and the creek has been determined to be of moderate to high potential for steelhead restoration.[9]

See also

References
  1. Durham, David L. (1998). Durham's Place Names of California's San Francisco Bay Area: Includes Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano & Santa Clara counties. Word Dancer Press, Sanger, California. p. 43. ISBN 1884995357.
  2. Laura Jones (2008). Cultural Resources Evaluation for A Proposed Single-Family Residential Redevelopment Project at 50, 80 and 88 Finger Avenue, Redwood City, California (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  3. "Cordilleras Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  4. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2016-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 26, 2012
  5. Anouk MacKenzie (June 2005). "A Cultural and Natural History Of Cordilleras Creek Watershed". Friends of Cordilleras Creek. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  6. "Cordilleras Creek Watershed". Oakland Museum. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  7. EOA, Inc. (May 2007). Water Quality Screening in the Cordilleras Creek Watershed in San Mateo County, California (PDF) (Report). San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  8. Leidy, R.A., G.S. Becker, B.N. Harvey (2005). Historical distribution and current status of steelhead/rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in streams of the San Francisco Estuary, California (PDF) (Report). Oakland, California: Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration. Retrieved 2012-08-26.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  9. Erika Cleugh, Caroline Mcknight (2002). Steelhead Migration Barrier Survey of San Francisco Bay Area Watershed Creeks (Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo Counties) (Report). California Department of Fish and Game.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
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