Islais Creek
Encyclopedia
Islais Creek or Islais Creek Channel (previously known as Du Vrees Creek, Islais Channel and Islais Swamp) is a small creek in San Francisco, California
. The name of the creek is derived from a Salinan
Native American
word "slay" or "islay", the name for the Prunus ilicifolia
wild cherries.
Around the time of the Gold Rush, the area became an industrial hub, and the condition of the creek worsened. After the devastating earthquake in 1906, the city decided to reclaim
the creek using earthquake debris, reducing the waterbody to its present size. Though much of Islais Creek has been converted to an underground culvert
, remnants still exist today at both Glen Canyon Park and Third Street. Several community organizations are dedicated to preserve these remnants, as they are important wildlife habitats.
paralleling Bosworth Street and eventually reaching the bottom of the Mission Street
viaduct at I-280. The other branch began at the intersection of Cayuga Avenue and Regent Street. It flowed generally eastward along Mission Street and reached the I-280 viaduct. Together, as a wider creek, it ran parallel to Alemany Boulevard
and I-280 and emptied into the Islais Creek estuary, near Industrial Street and Oakdale Avenue. Precita Creek, a nearby creek that originated from Noe Valley
, also joined Islais Creek at the César Chávez
Boulevard and Evans Avenue intersection.
From its sources in the Glen Canyon, the entire creek stretched about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the San Francisco Bay
. The mouth was nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, providing up to 85% of the drinking water in San Francisco. Due to urban development, however, the watershed
of Islais Creek has been reduced by roughly 80% from its historical extent. A large number of neighborhoods in San Francisco today, such as Bernal Heights
, Hunters Point
, Visitacion Valley
, parts of the Mission
and Potrero Hill, was once covered by the extent of the creek.
In 2007, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
, which manages the city's water, began investigating the possibility of "daylighting" underground portions of the creek. As of 2009, remnants of the creek remain inside the Glen Canyon Park and a 1 miles (1.6 km) channel near Third Street
where Islais Creek emptied into the bay.
The history of Islais Creek dates to the 18th century. The name Los Islais first appeared on Mexican
maps in 1834, named for the Islay cherries that grew wildly in the area. By 1850, water from the creek was used by farmers to irrigate crops. The Gold Rush
marked the decline of the creek as large numbers of gold rushers swarmed into the city. In 1871, the area along the creek became known as the city’s "New Butchertown" when more than 100 slaughterhouses opened. Since then, the condition of the creek deteriorated, literally becoming a dumping place of garbage, sewage, animal waste, and unsold meat products. The condition became so bad that the creek was commonly referred to as "Shit
Creek" by San Franciscans, according to historian Karl Kortum.
After the 1906 earthquake
, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
voted to fill the creek with earthquake debris, reducing the creek to its present size. During World War II
, it served as docking areas for large ocean-going tugs. The area also located the largest copra coconut
processing plant in the United States
West Coast
. In fact, the abandoned five-story high copra crane, used to transport large amount of copras from ships to the plant as late as 1974, still remains on the creek bank preserved as a historic landmark. In the 1950s, Islais Creek was home to the largest sardine
canning
industry in the world. The deteriorated condition of the creek gradually improved after the construction of a water treatment plant in 1970. Today, the majority of the creek is covered and transformed into a culvert with its remnants flowing at Glen Canyon and near the bay.
Many local community organizations were set up to improve the condition of the creek and nearby areas. Friends of Islais Creek, established back in 1984, and David Erickson, a local community figure, were committed to build a waterfront park in Islais Creek. The initial plan for a park was finally launched in 1988 with a $50,000 grant from the State Department of Water Resources as well as community groups in The Bayview. With an additional of $100,000 federal and local grants as well as supports from non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, namely the Sierra Club
, San Francisco Municipal Railway
(Muni), Department of Public Works, Public Utilities Commission
, Port of San Francisco
, and Caltrans, the park was finished in 1998. Located adjacent to Pier 80 on the shores of the creek, the Muwekma Ohlone Park or the Muwekma Ohlone Sanctuary is named after the native inhabitants and has since became an important habitat for a wide array of wildlife, including the Pacific Chorus Frog and Mission blue butterfly
.
On November 19, 2001, construction crews, while preparing to drill an electrical conduit
(consisting of six large 115kV electrical cables) across the creek for the Muni Metro
T Third Street light rail line, cracked the concrete sewer
underground which carries more than 80 million gallons of sewage a day. The incident flooded the creek and its adjacent Muwekma Ohlone Park with sewage. The park had to be excavated to make way for the repairing of the sewer pipe. It was estimated that it would take more than $101,660 to repair and $65,000 for wildlife habitat restoration.
, PCBs
, bacteria
, as well as organochlorines
than other parts of the San Francisco Bay.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The name of the creek is derived from a Salinan
Salinan
The Salinan Native Americans lived in what is now the Central Coast of California, in the Salinas Valley. Said to have gone extinct by the Census of 1930, the Salinan Native Americans survived and are now in the process of applying for tribal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.There...
Native American
Indigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
word "slay" or "islay", the name for the Prunus ilicifolia
Prunus ilicifolia
Prunus ilicifolia is an evergreen shrub to tree, producing edible cherries, with shiny and spiny toothed leaves similar in appearance to holly...
wild cherries.
Around the time of the Gold Rush, the area became an industrial hub, and the condition of the creek worsened. After the devastating earthquake in 1906, the city decided to reclaim
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
the creek using earthquake debris, reducing the waterbody to its present size. Though much of Islais Creek has been converted to an underground culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
, remnants still exist today at both Glen Canyon Park and Third Street. Several community organizations are dedicated to preserve these remnants, as they are important wildlife habitats.
Course
The historic Islais Creek, the largest body of water in the city covering an area of nearly 5000 acre (7.813 sq mi; 20.234 km²), had two main branches. One originated near the southern slope of Twin Peaks, slightly north of Portola Drive. It flowed downstream southeastward through the Glen Canyon ParkGlen Canyon Park
Glen Canyon Park is a city park in San Francisco, California. It occupies about along a deep canyon adjacent to the Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and neighborhoods...
paralleling Bosworth Street and eventually reaching the bottom of the Mission Street
Mission Street
Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in San Francisco, California that runs from the city's southern border to its northeast corner. The street and the Mission District through which it runs were named for the Spanish Mission Dolores, several blocks away from the modern route. Only...
viaduct at I-280. The other branch began at the intersection of Cayuga Avenue and Regent Street. It flowed generally eastward along Mission Street and reached the I-280 viaduct. Together, as a wider creek, it ran parallel to Alemany Boulevard
Alemany Boulevard
Alemany Boulevard is an east–west street in San Francisco, California. The boulevard was named for Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco....
and I-280 and emptied into the Islais Creek estuary, near Industrial Street and Oakdale Avenue. Precita Creek, a nearby creek that originated from Noe Valley
Noe Valley, San Francisco, California
-Location:Its borders are generally considered to be 22nd Street to the north, Randall Street to the south, Dolores Street to the east, and Grand View Avenue to the west. These borders are understood to be somewhat flexible, particularly by real estate agents...
, also joined Islais Creek at the César Chávez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
Boulevard and Evans Avenue intersection.
From its sources in the Glen Canyon, the entire creek stretched about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. The mouth was nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, providing up to 85% of the drinking water in San Francisco. Due to urban development, however, the watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
of Islais Creek has been reduced by roughly 80% from its historical extent. A large number of neighborhoods in San Francisco today, such as Bernal Heights
Bernal Heights, San Francisco, California
-Location:Bernal Heights lies to the south of San Francisco's Mission District. Its most prominent feature is the open parkland and microwave tower on its large rocky hill, Bernal Heights Summit...
, Hunters Point
Hunters Point, San Francisco, California
Bayview-Hunters Point or The Bayview, is a neighborhood in the southeastern corner of San Francisco, California, United States. The decommissioned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is located within its boundaries and Candlestick Park is on the southern edge....
, Visitacion Valley
Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California
Visitacion Valley is a neighborhood located in the south eastern quadrant of San Francisco, California.-Location:Visitacion Valley is roughly defined by McLaren Park and Gleneagles Golf Course to the West, Mansell Blvd to the North, Bayview Hill and Candlestick Cove to the East, and the San...
, parts of the Mission
Mission District, San Francisco, California
The Mission District, also commonly called "The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, originally known as "the Mission lands" meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis...
and Potrero Hill, was once covered by the extent of the creek.
In 2007, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is a public agency of the City and County of San Francisco that provides water, wastewater, and power services to the City and an additional 1.6 million customers within three San Francisco Bay Area counties.The SFPUC manages a complex water supply...
, which manages the city's water, began investigating the possibility of "daylighting" underground portions of the creek. As of 2009, remnants of the creek remain inside the Glen Canyon Park and a 1 miles (1.6 km) channel near Third Street
Third Street (San Francisco)
Third Street, formerly Kentucky Street in the Dogpatch and Railroad Avenue in the Bayview, is a north-south street running through the Downtown, Mission Bay, Potrero Point, Dogpatch, and the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco, California which turns into Kearny Street north of...
where Islais Creek emptied into the bay.
History
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
maps in 1834, named for the Islay cherries that grew wildly in the area. By 1850, water from the creek was used by farmers to irrigate crops. The Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
marked the decline of the creek as large numbers of gold rushers swarmed into the city. In 1871, the area along the creek became known as the city’s "New Butchertown" when more than 100 slaughterhouses opened. Since then, the condition of the creek deteriorated, literally becoming a dumping place of garbage, sewage, animal waste, and unsold meat products. The condition became so bad that the creek was commonly referred to as "Shit
Shit
Shit is usually considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun it refers to fecal matter and as a verb it means to defecate or defecate in; in the plural it means diarrhea...
Creek" by San Franciscans, according to historian Karl Kortum.
After the 1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
voted to fill the creek with earthquake debris, reducing the creek to its present size. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it served as docking areas for large ocean-going tugs. The area also located the largest copra coconut
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...
processing plant in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. In fact, the abandoned five-story high copra crane, used to transport large amount of copras from ships to the plant as late as 1974, still remains on the creek bank preserved as a historic landmark. In the 1950s, Islais Creek was home to the largest sardine
Sardine
Sardines, or pilchards, are several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines are named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, around which they were once abundant....
canning
Canning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...
industry in the world. The deteriorated condition of the creek gradually improved after the construction of a water treatment plant in 1970. Today, the majority of the creek is covered and transformed into a culvert with its remnants flowing at Glen Canyon and near the bay.
Many local community organizations were set up to improve the condition of the creek and nearby areas. Friends of Islais Creek, established back in 1984, and David Erickson, a local community figure, were committed to build a waterfront park in Islais Creek. The initial plan for a park was finally launched in 1988 with a $50,000 grant from the State Department of Water Resources as well as community groups in The Bayview. With an additional of $100,000 federal and local grants as well as supports from non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, namely the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, San Francisco Municipal Railway
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
(Muni), Department of Public Works, Public Utilities Commission
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is a public agency of the City and County of San Francisco that provides water, wastewater, and power services to the City and an additional 1.6 million customers within three San Francisco Bay Area counties.The SFPUC manages a complex water supply...
, Port of San Francisco
Port of San Francisco
The Port of San Francisco lies on the western edge of the San Francisco Bay near the Golden Gate. It has been called one of the three great natural harbors in the world, but it took two long centuries for navigators from Spain and England to find the anchorage originally called Yerba Buena...
, and Caltrans, the park was finished in 1998. Located adjacent to Pier 80 on the shores of the creek, the Muwekma Ohlone Park or the Muwekma Ohlone Sanctuary is named after the native inhabitants and has since became an important habitat for a wide array of wildlife, including the Pacific Chorus Frog and Mission blue butterfly
Mission blue butterfly
The Mission Blue is a blue or lycaenid butterfly subspecies native to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. The butterfly has been declared as endangered by the US Federal Government. It is a subspecies of Boisduval's Blue .- Description :The endangered Mission Blue has a wingspan of...
.
On November 19, 2001, construction crews, while preparing to drill an electrical conduit
Electrical conduit
An electrical conduit is an electrical piping system used for protection and routing of electrical wiring. Electrical conduit may be made of metal, plastic, fiber, or fired clay. Flexible conduit is available for special purposes....
(consisting of six large 115kV electrical cables) across the creek for the Muni Metro
Muni Metro
Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway , a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency...
T Third Street light rail line, cracked the concrete sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
underground which carries more than 80 million gallons of sewage a day. The incident flooded the creek and its adjacent Muwekma Ohlone Park with sewage. The park had to be excavated to make way for the repairing of the sewer pipe. It was estimated that it would take more than $101,660 to repair and $65,000 for wildlife habitat restoration.
Health hazard
Since Islais Creek is a culvert that carries storm water, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater, it is possible for the sewage to overflow. Such overflow can cause a public health hazard as Islais Creek displays higher level of heavy metalsHeavy metals
A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...
, PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
, bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
, as well as organochlorines
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
than other parts of the San Francisco Bay.
Transportation
The Third Street Bridge is the major crossing of the creek, carrying T Third Street light rail line and Third Street. The Port of San Francisco extended Illinois Street across Islais Creek in 2006 to relieve traffic for Third Street.External links
- Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Creeks - Islais Creek
- Urban Paradise Lost
- Some images of Islais Creek from the book San Francisco: A Natural History
- 360° views of Islais Creek Basin from Third Street Bridge: 1, 2
- The Attempted Homicide of a Sanctuary