People and the Creek People and the Creek (February 11, 2004)

This is the 10th story of the people who have lived on the banks of the San Francisquito Creek and its tributaries through the centuries.

From utopia to dangerous floods along shores of San Francisquito

By Nancy Lund

During the early years of the 20th Century, creekside dwellers were frustrated by failed attempts to harness San Francisquito's occasional flooding, yet also enjoyed the pleasures it offered. As the years rolled by, development along the banks continued.

In the early part of the century a new community, designed to be a utopia, developed near the mouth of the creek. A poultry man named James Weeks had a plan to create an independent way of life for small farmers he called "Little Landers." His theme was "One Acre and Independence."

The idea was to raise chickens, tend gardens and sell eggs and vegetables. As many as 220 farm families and 30,000 chickens lived in colonies called Runnymede and Ravenswood in the 1920s. The experiment ended in the '30s because salt water entered their wells and larger dealers could offer lower prices.

World War I brought another new category of creek dwellers: soldiers, about 25,000 at a time. For two years, from 1917 until 1919, the tents of Camp Fremont occupied 7,203 Menlo Park acres, from the creek banks to today's Valparaiso Avenue, and from El Camino to the Alameda. Parade grounds, stables for huge numbers of horses, warehouses, mess halls, a hospital and a hospitality house designed by noted architect Julia Morgan appeared in short order.

Just about the time the soldiers left, another new group of residents moved in on the opposite shore. In 1920, chronically ill children, suffering from such diseases as rheumatic fever, came to the "Con Home," a children's convalescent hospital established in the former Stanford mansion. Old photos show children lined up in rows of beds outside in the sunshine.

Over the years this became the Children's Hospital at Stanford and today is known as the Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Development along the bayfront brought new people to the mouth of the creek. The Palo Alto Yacht Harbor, created in 1928, brought sailors and their small boats down to the bay south of the creek for pleasure cruising. In 1935 the Palo Alto Airport moved to adjacent new quarters, bringing pilots and small planes. And the city dump was located just a short distance away.

Private bridges spanned the waters in the 1920s when new neighborhoods adjacent to the creek began to be built up. Some residents who owned property on both sides erected these rather splendid structures. One, for example, was a high-arched, Japanese tea garden model. All were eventually washed away.

As the population of the little towns on the flatlands grew slowly but steadily, problems with the creek continued. In 1917, 12-year-old Harold Mogensen drowned in the creek when the bank near the Middlefield Bridge crumbled beneath him. His body was found two days later near the University Avenue crossing. Peter Faber had diverted the creek to reclaim marshland near Runnymede for his farm. On February 28, 1919, he reported with good humor to the Palo Alto Times that he had acquired several acres of good soil washed down the creek from upstream during an especially rainy season.

Of course public bridges had spanned the creek from the days of Dennis Martin in the 1850s. By the 1920s concrete or metal began to replace the old wooden bridges. When the new steel University Avenue bridge was completed in 1926 at a cost of $17,500, it replaced a rickety wooden bridge over which police had counted 446 vehicles a day two years earlier.

On March 22, 1929, the Times reported the collapse of a 41-year old wooden bridge near today's Stanford Golf Course. This left a bus dangling precariously in mid-air. Four passengers were slightly injured; 12 others and the driver escaped unharmed. The engineers' advice to abandon wood was proved to be wise.

Narrowing of the creek at these bridges caused debris from upstream to collect and clog the creek, creating the perpetual problem of flooding during heavy rains. When the Bayshore Highway was completed in 1932, it added one more bridge and one more potential catastrophe.

Next: Searsville Picnic Park and the Depression

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