Nicasio Creek
| Nicasio Creek | |
| stream | |
 Nicasio Creek
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Marin County |
| District | West Marin |
| Landmark | Nicasio Reservoir |
| Source | Big Rock Ridge |
| - location | 4 mi (6 km) southwest of Novato |
| - elevation | 1,030 ft (314 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°3′42″N 122°37′37″W / 38.06167°N 122.62694°W |
| Mouth | Lagunitas Creek |
| - location | 2 mi (3 km) east of Point Reyes Station |
| - elevation | 39 ft (12 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°4′12″N 122°46′12″W / 38.07000°N 122.77000°WCoordinates: 38°4′12″N 122°46′12″W / 38.07000°N 122.77000°W |
Nicasio Creek is an 11.9-mile-long (19.2 km) stream in Marin County, California, United States and is the primary tributary of Lagunitas Creek, which flows, in turn, into Tomales Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. The Nicasio Reservoir, formed in 1961 by Seeger Dam, is located on this stream.
Nicasio Creek and the Rancho Nicasio are probably named for a Coast Miwok named "Nicasio" by the Spanish missionaries. The original diseno for the 1835 and 1844 land grants shows Arroyo de Nicasio, Casa de los Indios de Nicasio, and Roblar de Nicasio for Nicasio Creek, the house of the Nicasio Indians, and the oaks of Nicasio.
In the mid-1830s, General Mariano Vallejo promised 80,000 acres (324 km2) to the Marin County Coast Miwok Indians and asked them to choose the lands, since their original lands had been co-opted by the Mission San Rafael. In 1835, the land was granted by Mexican Governor José Figueroa, however the Indians were subsequently swindled out of the land by General Vallejo and Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. By the time the scheme was discovered in 1843, the disputed lands were quietly granted to Pablo de la Guerra, an aristocratic Spaniard, and John B. R. Cooper, an Irishman who already owned the Rancho Punta de Quentin near San Rafael. In 1855, the Miwok claim was rejected by the Public Land Commission. Subsequently, de la Guerra sold his land in 1850 to Henry Wager Halleck. Halleck had arrived in California in 1847 as a lieutenant in the United States Engineers, accompanied by his friend, Lt. William Tecumseh Sherman. Halleck was a partner in the San Francisco law firm, Halleck, Peachy & Billings, and in the Civil War was promoted by President Abraham Lincoln to general-in-chief of the armies of the United States. Halleck hunted and fished at Rancho Nicasio, and built a house on the creek near Nicasio, now called Halleck Creek.
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Wikipedia