History of Our Creeks

In the early 1900’s the whole of Walnut Creek occupied roughly the area of the current downtown. There was a bridge over San Ramon Creek about where Creekside Drive is to provide access to town from the south. The creeks were in their natural channels. People fished and swam in them and had picnics on their banks. This is not to say that there were no impacts, however. A tomato cannery on the site of the present Target store poured so much tomato waste into the creek that the water ran red during canning season.

There were three major floods in downtown Walnut Creek between 1955 and 1962. The April 1958 flood inundated 1000 homes and 100 stores.

After the floods, local interests turned to the Army Corps of Engineers for help . The Corps developed a plan involving a system of levees, drop structures, and concrete channels. Construction took six years – 1965-71. It began at Suisun Bay and proceeded upstream to Ygnacio Valley Road. The effect of all this was major changes in the streambed and flow and the riparian corridor. The creek is in a trapezoidal dirt channel from the bay to Monument Boulevard. From there to Ygnacio Valley Road it is in an open concrete box channel with very little room at top of bank. The riparian vegetation was removed for flood control purposes. Weeds and exotic grass replaced it. Salmon and steelhead were regularly seen in downtown Walnut Creek until this point, but now they vanished, blocked by the drop structures.

Things started looking up for the creeks when Pam Romo organized the first creek cleanup in May 1990. Later that year, she persuaded the City Council to establish a task force to create a plan to restore and enhance habitat on the downtown creeks and provide a trail for the public to enjoy the creeks. In 1993, the Council adopted the finished Creeks Restoration and Trails Master Plan.

Task force members formed Friends of the Creeks in 1994 to work with the City to implement the Master Plan and to be advocates for the creeks.

 
Fishing in Walnut Creek early 1900's
 Walnut Creek Historical Society, used by permission


  Bridge near Duncan Street
 Walnut Creek Historical Society, used by permission


East side of Locust Street, December 22, 1955
Walnut Creek Historical Society, used by permission


Looking south on Main Street, April 1958
Walnut Creek Historical Society, used by permission