Why a "water droplet"
background you might ask...it is because Boulder Creek is in the heart
of a rainforest. Annual rainfall is better than 70 inches a year.
Redwood trees are beautiful trees that have been on earth since dinasours...they're
the largest trees on earth often topping 250 feet!
See some of the beautiful
photos below of the lovely place I live.
You don't have to lie on the ground or use a special
lense to get this kind of perspective when you look up through the trees
on our property...they really are that tall!
Here is a wonderful old photo of the Sempervirens
club (another classy word for "redwoods") That is just one tree trunk
all those people are infront of...yes they are magnificient!
Being a rain forest there are a lot of creeks that
meander through the forest like this beautiful one, they are all green
with ferns and delightful to play in. We live on the San Lorenzo
River. It too looks like a creek 9 months of the year, but during
the rainy season all the little creeks feed into it and it becomes huge...deserving
its name.
Boulder Creek is near enough to the coast of California
that you can see the ocean from the top of some of the mountains in the
area.
Another wonderful thing about Boulder Creek, California
is the small size of the community repleat with a wonderful volunteer fire
department. There are NO fast food restaurants or big chain stores...suits
me fine! Here is the town of Boulder Creek, we live about 1 mile
from town.
Located on historic Highway Nine, once the main
artery from Santa Clara Valley to Santa Cruz. Boulder Creek rode
the economic boom of the lumber industry through the turn of the century.
Luckily folks came to realize the importance of the ancient Redwood trees
before they were all harvested.
Boulder Creek is in the beautiful San Lorenzo
Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains, just north of Santa Cruz, and west
of San Jose and Silicon Valley. The San Lorenzo River defines the watershed
as it tumbles down 2000 or so feet from its headwaters at the top of the
Santa Cruz Mountains to Santa Cruz where it joins Monterey Bay.
The redwoods are bounded by the bustle of Silicon
Valley and Scotts Valley to the north and east, Santa Cruz and Monterey
Bay to the south, and by UCSC, Big Basin State Park, and the Pacific Ocean
to the west.
This area was originally settled to help provide
goods for the burgeoning Gold Rush cities in the greater region, but soon
became a site treasured by many as a place for summer homes and fishing
under the redwoods. Several large stands of old growth redwoods survive to this day, and the majority
of the valley is covered with towering second growth trees that are just
turning the century mark. Today, many valley residents work in the nearby
computer industries and come home to relax amidst the trees. Perhaps this
helps explain why the region has the highest number of internet providers
per capita of any region in the world.
San Lorenzo Valley is an easy day trip from anywhere
in the San Francisco, 0akland, San Jose region. it is 90 minutes south
of San Francisco and Oakland, 40 minutes from Stanford or San Jose, and
a half hour or less from the world headquarters of Netscape, Yahoo, Apple,
Adobe, Sun, Javasoft, HP, SCO, SGI, and many more familiar Silicon Valley
names.
Boulder Creek was founded as a logging camp.
Timber claims were first made in 1865, and by 1870 there were a dozen claim
camps. John H. Alcorn, son of Branciford Alcorn, built a hotel in 1870
near the river. Tilford George Berry was another founding father. Berry
Falls are named for him in Big Basin. Boulder Creek incorporated as a village in 1902, but voted out town government in 1905.
Southern Pacific Railway chose Boulder Creek
for its station and the town quickly grew. Boulder Creek became one of
California's busiest logging towns, shipping out over 2 billion feet of
redwood. Lumber was trained out 24 hours a day, almost every day.
Boulder Creek was probably more infamous than famous: it had as many as
26 saloons, gambling houses, cat houses and hotels. The environment was
almost wrecked by the clear-cut logging policies of the time. Very few
old growth redwood trees survive today.
Really Recent History
Several thousands of years ago (it depends on
who you ask), some of the indigenous peoples of the San Francisco Bay area
took up residence in the forest. Their modern descendants are called the
Ohlone which is a Miwok word for people of the west. They lived a nomadic
life with small tribal units speaking different languages. The acorn was
one of their primary food sources. They also hunted deer, bear, elk, and
sea critters, and gathered roots, herbs, fruits, nuts, and insects.
They had a very varied and interesting diet, and would probably love the
variety of foodstuffs found in the area today. Grub sushi is a concept
worth savoring.
As nomads, they weren't into pyramids or snake
mounds or any other long lasting buildings. Their culture was a portable
one which featured the lightweight such as the basket over the durable
such as pottery. Due to the fragility of their artifacts, little remains
of pre-western influence Ohlone manufacture other than some beautifully intricate basketry, bone tools, mortars and pestles
and the like. They did, in fact, walk lightly on the land.
