Alhambra Creek
| Alhambra Creek | |
| Arroyo del Hambre | |
| stream | |
 Beaver yearling on Alhambra Creek in downtown Martinez.
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Contra Costa County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Franklin Creek, Arroya del Hambre Creek |
| City | Martinez |
| Source | Briones Hills |
| - location | 4 mi (6 km) west of Pleasant Hill, California |
| - elevation | 1,034 ft (315 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°56′22″N 122°7′43″W / 37.93944°N 122.12861°W |
| Mouth | Arroyo del Hambre |
| - location | Martinez, California |
| - elevation | 203 ft (62 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°58′24″N 122°7′34″W / 37.97333°N 122.12611°WCoordinates: 37°58′24″N 122°7′34″W / 37.97333°N 122.12611°W |
Alhambra Creek is a stream in Contra Costa County, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.
The creek drains into the Carquinez Strait at Martinez, via the historical Arroyo del Hambre. Alhambra Creek and its valley take their name from Cañada del Hambre, Spanish for "valley of hunger", apparently because of some unknown incident involving starving Spanish soldiers. The name appears on diseños repeatedly and appears on an 1842 land grant, Rancho Cañada del Hambre y Las Bolsas. Although technically Alhambra Creek only refers to the upper section of 2 miles (3 km), and the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1943 confirmed Arroyo del Hambre as the name for the lower creek, Mrs. John Strentzel, John Muir's' mother-in-law, did not like the name and renamed the lower creek also as Alhambra Creek. Currently the entire creek is commonly called the Alhambra Creek, and Arroyo del Hambre Creek and Franklin Creek are considered its two tributaries.
The Alhambra Creek Watershed covers approximately 16.5 square miles (43 km2) in north central Contra Costa County, and encompasses a portion of the city of Martinez. The combined branches flow through Briones Valley, valleys containing open space, wildlife habitat, residential and commercial areas, through downtown Martinez and then discharge into the Carquinez Straits through a tidal wetland at the Martinez Regional Shoreline.
Alhambra Creek originates in the Briones Hills, within Briones Regional Park. The water flows from a tunnel in the side of the hill. This tunnel was made years ago to try to tap into what the speculators thought was a vast underground river that came from the Sierras. The thought was that the lagoons on Briones Crest represented a vast underground store of water. This “aqueous mother lode” turned out to be illusory, so the tunnel was abandoned.
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Wikipedia