Crystal Springs Lake
| Crystal Springs Reservoir | |
|---|---|
 Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir as viewed from the Sawyer Camp Trail
| |
| Location |
Santa Cruz Mountains San Mateo County, California |
| Coordinates |
Lower reservoir 37°31′41″N 122°21′54″W / 37.5280°N 122.3650°WCoordinates: 37°31′41″N 122°21′54″W / 37.5280°N 122.3650°W Upper reservoir 37°29′57″N 122°20′20″W / 37.4993°N 122.3389°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | San Mateo Creek, San Andreas Creek, Adobe Gulch, Laguna Creek, Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct |
| Primary outflows | San Mateo Creek |
| Catchment area | 29.4 sq mi (76 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 1,323 acres (535 ha) |
| Water volume | 57,910 acre⋅ft (71,430,000 m3) |
| Surface elevation | 85 m (279 ft) |
| References | U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: 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. The lakes are part of the San Mateo Creek watershed.
The original name of the southern or Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir was Laguna Grande, which has a California Historical Marker ("NO. 94 PORTOLA EXPEDITION CAMP - The Portolà expedition of 1769 camped on November 5 at a 'laguna grande' which today is covered by the Upper Crystal Springs Lake.") located at Crystal Springs Dam on Skyline Boulevard, 0.1 mi south of Crystal Springs Road. The Laguna Grande place name is also shown on the 1840s diseño del Rancho Cañada de Raymundo and an 1856 plat of the Rancho de las Pulgas. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir now covers the town of Crystal Springs which grew up around a little resort town of the same name, located just northwest of the present dam.
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. The Spring Valley Water Company named the lakes, the Spring Valley Lakes, after the company. The original Spring Valley was between Mason and Taylor Streets, and Washington and Broadway Streets in San Francisco, where the water company started. When the company went south for more water, the Spring Valley name was carried south too.
The entire reservoir consists of two different reservoir lakes.
The southern lake, Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir, was formed when a tributary, Laguna Creek (or Lake Creek), which joined Laguna Grande at the south end, was submerged by construction of an earthen dam (this was the first Crystal Springs Dam) in 1877. The old earthen dam became a causeway between Upper and Lower Crystal Springs Reservoirs when the latter was formed by Herman Schussler's 150 foot tall concrete Crystal Springs Dam, which dammed up San Mateo Creek to form the lower (northern) reservoir in 1888. The causeway is now crossed by Highway 92. Laguna Creek flows north through the Filoli estate and has tributaries that descend from the western slope of Edgewood County Park and the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains. In addition to Laguna Creek, Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir is fed by Adobe Gulch which descends from Cahill Ridge south of and parallel to Highway 92 into a wetland marsh then joins the reservoir at Adobe Point.
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