Adobe Creek (near Los Altos, California)
| Adobe Creek | |
| Arroyo San Antonio (San Antonio Creek), Doby Creek, Arroyo de las Yeguas (Yeguas Creek) |
|
| stream | |
 Fallen redwood in Adobe Creek. This large woody debris prevents erosion by slowing high flows and provides shelter for trout and other species
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Santa Clara County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Middle, West and North Forks Adobe Creek, Moody Creek, Purisima Creek, Robleda Creek, Barron Creek |
| Cities | Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Palo Alto, California |
| Source | Black Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains |
| - location | Los Altos Hills, California |
| - elevation | 2,600 ft (792 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°19′12″N 122°09′19″W / 37.32000°N 122.15528°W |
| Mouth | Palo Alto Flood Basin in southwest San Francisco Bay |
| - location | Palo Alto, California |
| - elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°27′10″N 122°05′29″W / 37.45278°N 122.09139°WCoordinates: 37°27′10″N 122°05′29″W / 37.45278°N 122.09139°W |
Adobe Creek is a 14.2-mile-long (22.9 km) northward-flowing stream originating on Black Mountain in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It courses through the cities of Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, and Palo Alto. Historically, Adobe Creek was perennial and hosted runs of steelhead trout entering from southwestern San Francisco Bay.
The Ohlone people were the original inhabitants of Adobe Creek. A large shell mound which once had a group of Indian huts was found near Adobe Creek in Palo Alto. Evidence of a smaller settlement within Los Altos was uncovered in 1971, when an Ohlone burial ground with skeletons—one with ceremonial beads—was uncovered by new construction along Adobe Creek near O'Keefe Lane. The site had other artifacts, and an archeological dig was mounted by Foothill College. Around this same time, an Ohlone basket was discovered buried in the Creek bank further north. The O'Keefe site has a historical plaque marking the historic site.
On the 1862 Allardt Map the upper creek is called Arroyo San Antonio (San Antonio Creek) and the lower creek is called Arroyo de las Yeguas (Yeguas Creek).Yeguas is Spanish for "mare", and the Mission Santa Clara named it that because they built a corral for mares along the creek's banks near the Bay. Juan Prado Mesa renamed it San Antonio Creek when he was granted Rancho San Antonio in 1839 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The Adobe Creek name appears as early as 1855 on an official surveyor’s map, which lists both the Adobe and San Antonio names for the creek.
During the secularization of the missions in the 1830s, Alvarado parceled out much of their land to prominent Californios via land grants. Mesa was a soldier stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco who had become alfarez (officer in command) in 1837. He built a large square adobe, which lasted well into the twentieth century as a crumbling ruin long thought of as a fortification. The site today is on a hill on the southeast side of El Monte Avenue near Summerhill Avenue in Los Altos, California, most of which is located on the territory of the Rancho.
...
Wikipedia