Friends of Sausal Creek
The Creek's Path

by Lisa Owens-Viani

Sausal Creek originates about 1,300 feet above sea level in four branches: the Palo Seco and Cinderella branches in Joaquin Miller Park, the Shepherd branch in the hills above Shepherd Canyon Park, and the Scout Road branch, which flows into the Shepherd branch before continuing downhill. Just east of the Montclair Golf Course parking lot, the Palo Seco-Cinderella branch and the Shepherd-Scout Road branch combine to form one watercourse. Sausal Creek then flows downhill beneath the golf course (underground, in a culvert), through Dimond Canyon and Dimond Park (for the most part above ground), and continues westward toward the Bay through lower Fruitvale (both above and beneath ground). At International Boulevard (formerly known as 14th Street), it enters the culvert in which it finishes its journey to the tidal canal.

Early hand-drawn Spanish maps show the creek ending in willow thickets before reaching the Bay. Most likely, the creek was named for these willows, since sausal means "willow grove" in Spanish. The Palo Seco branch was named for a "dry tree." Although no one knows exactly which tree Palo Seco describes, the early Spanish explorers may have been referring to any one of the diverse chaparral-type shrubs or trees growing in some portions of the canyon through which Palo Seco flows. The Cinderella and Scout Road branches were probably named in the early 1900s after the many Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts who have camped along these banks since the turn of the century.

The Friends of Sausal Creek meets every month to share our knowledge of the creek and to do restoration work in the watershed. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, September 15, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dimond Library. Our next workday will be on Creek to Bay Day, Saturday, September 18, from 9 a.m. to noon, in Dimond Park. Join us!