Updating 'Sidewalks of Washington Street'

Just added a summary at the top of  The Sidewalks of Washington Street, preparatory to a complete rewrite of the page. I'm hoping the summary will serve both as guide and motivation for that endeavor, with a view toward possible submission to MAH's new Online History Journal.

Whatever happened to Arroyo Santa Cruz?

Recently, I've been studying several panoramic or "birds eye" views of Santa Cruz, produced between 1870 and 1877. Among many fascinating details, this one (from the 1870 view) especially caught my eye:

That meandering little stream running from Neary Lagoon to reach Monterey Bay at Cowell Beach is Arroyo Santa Cruz, so named by the Spanish exploration party led by Portola in 1769, the first Europeans to visit the northern end of Monterey Bay. The later Franciscan mission, and eventually the American town, both adopted the name first given to the creek.

Over the years, much of the creek has gone underground. (between the lagoon and the beach, and also from California Street to Laurel), or is channelized and hidden behind rows of houses above Mission Street. The name has changed several times: Mill Creek, Majors Creek, Laurel Creek, and today the really uninspiring Laurel Street Brook. There aren't even any signs anywhere. I think we Santa Cruzans should reclaim our heritage and give the creek back its original and historic name.

A caveat: contemporary accounts indicate that, at the time of Vizcaino's arrival, a branch of the San Lorenzo River ran through today's Neary Lagoon, so the Spaniards would have seen Arroyo Santa Cruz ending when it came tumbling down the hill at today's Laurel Street.

Still, I bet the Babbling Brook Inn and Emily's Cafe (two places where you can still see the creek) would support an effort to give us back some of our earliest history. I may have to become a community activist.

Patch blog TOC update

Just finished the semi-annual update to the Table of Contents page for my blog over at Santa Cruz Patch. Eight new posts in six months+ is not great production, but not so bad. A milestone reached: the July 3 post is number 50 on that blog. Does that mean anything? I guess it proves I haven't been completely idle. Happy 4th!

San Lorenzo River through Neary Lagoon?

In E. S. Harrison's History of Santa Cruz County (1892), there's a translation of Fr. Crespi's diary recounting Portola's 1769 exploration of our area. On the day the party reached the river, it says:

"Toward the end of this day's journey, we turned to the westward, and not very far from the sea we came to a river of much water, which we crossed. It was about fifty-four feet wide, and in the middle the water reached to the bellies of the animals. It is the largest stream we have seen in all the journey. In its bed there are many poplar and alder trees, and has very good patches of land that can be sown and irrigated. The stream is not distant from the beach, and according to what the explorers say, it empties into a small shallow arm of the sea into which the tide rises and falls. We rested on the other side of the river, and to descend and ascend the banks of it caused us some trouble. The river has besides many redwood trees. Near the river we came to good and different land which was not burnt over. It gave us pleasure to see the grasses and the variety of the herbage, and the roses of Castile. We called the river San Lorenzo."

The translator (author of this chapter E. L. Williams?) adds the following:

"[From the above diary it will be seen that the San Lorenzo River was discovered and named on Tuesday, October 17, 1769, the expedition having occupied an entire day traveling from Soquel Creek to the San Lorenzo River. From Father Crespi's description of where the river debouches it would seem that at that time it emptied into what is now the " Neary " lagoon. Corroborative evidence of this has been found by the translator in pieces of redwood logs discovered beneath the surface of the earth, and charcoal at twelve feet depth when digging wells...]"

If this is true, the geography of Santa Cruz was much different in those days. I have doubts, however, that the entire river (plus Santa Cruz Creek) flowed out of Neary Lagoon through the narrow gap where the railroad tracks now pass under the old truss bridge. I think the river must have had more than one mouth.

This information could be used to expand a couple of the "Names on the Signs" blog posts: The Explorers and The River.

Birth of California Narrow Gauge

"...a regional study of the technology of Thomas and Martin Carter". by Bruce MacGregor (2003).

Just found this at SCPL. Several chapters relate to the Santa Cruz Railroad and South Pacific Coast RR. Many good and rare photos - I used this as a source for "Southern Pacific took over Santa Cruz County railroads in the 1880s". 

The four wharves of Santa Cruz

Recently sent the following email to geologist and local historian Frank Perry:

 

Hi Frank - just found your paper, Notes on the History of Wharves at Santa Cruz, California. Many thanks to you, Barry, Rick and Stan for clearing up the confusion. I always wondered why that 1870 litho didn't show a third wharf. My best guess was that the "Gharky" wharf was demolished a few years before the "Railroad" wharf was built. It never occurred to me that the Gharky and Powder wharves were the same. I'll link your paper, along with a correction note, to a couple of my blog posts on Santa Cruz Patch. My two main goals in blogging were 1) to motivate myself to get more into the research and, 2) to catch and correct errors by me and others. Thanks again - Carey   

Frank Perry	Jan 29 (4 days ago)
to me

Hi Carey:
Glad you enjoyed our paper.  We had fun researching it and finally setting the record straight.

Patch Blog TOC Updated

Just finished updating the table of contents page for the Santa Cruz Patch blog (see link in the column to the left), including links to each post. The chronological progression has reached 1880, and so far it looks like not much happened in the 1880s that was really new. After the breakneck pace of change in the preceding 30 years, it seems like Santa Cruz took a decade or so to catch its breath and consolidate its gains. But there are always interesting things to read and write about - so on we go.