Islais Creek
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Islais Creek or Islais Creek Channel (previously known as Du Vrees Creek, Islais Channel and Islais Swamp) is a small creek in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. 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
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
, 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 A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...
, 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 , had two main branches. One originated near the southern slope of
Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...
, slightly north of Portola Drive. It flowed downstream southeastward through the Glen Canyon Park paralleling Bosworth Street and eventually reaching the bottom of the
Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which ...
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 debouched 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 Cesar Chavez Street and Evans Avenue intersection. From its sources in the Glen Canyon, the entire creek stretched about to the
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...
. The mouth was nearly 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 Bernal Heights ( ) is a residential neighborhood in southeastern San Francisco, California. The prominent Bernal Heights hill overlooks the San Francisco skyline and features a microwave transmission tower. The nearby Sutro Tower can be seen fro ...
, Hunters Point,
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, parts of the Mission and Potrero Hill, were 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 channel near Third Street where Islais Creek debouched into the bay.


History

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 A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
marked the decline of the creek as large numbers of gold rushers swarmed into the city. A railroad trestle was built over the creek and tidal flats in the 1860s and in a lawsuit that went up to the
California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
called The People of the State of California ex relatione The Board of State Harbor Commissioners VS. The Potrero And Bay View Railroad Company, Islais Creek was declared a non-navigable waterway in 1883. 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 Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutri ...
, and unsold meat products. The condition became so bad that the creek was commonly referred to as "
Shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...
Creek" by San Franciscans, according to historian Karl Kortum. After the 1906 earthquake,
San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...
voted to fill the creek with earthquake debris, reducing the creek to its present size. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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 Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...
canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...
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 The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...
,
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines, bus routes (including Trolleybuses in San Franc ...
(Muni), Department of Public Works,
Public Utilities Commission A public utilities commission is a quasi-governmental body that provides oversight and/or regulation of public utility, public utilities in a particular area (locality, municipality, or Administrative division, subnational division), especially in ...
, Port of San Francisco, and
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, 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 become an important habitat for a wide array of wildlife, including the Pacific Chorus Frog and
Mission blue butterfly The Mission blue (''Icaricia icarioides missionensis'') 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 s ...
. On November 19, 2001, construction crews, while preparing to drill an
electrical conduit An electrical conduit is a tube used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or structure. Electrical conduit may be made of metal, plastic, fiber, or fired clay. Most conduit is rigid, but flexible conduit is used for some purp ...
(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. The remaining Islais Creek Park is next to Cargo Way and 3rd Street. It is home to a historical information sign, a short trail, public art created from a copra loading crane, and a pier with a dock for small boats. As of December, 2017, the copra crane is lying on its side and the restoration project on hold due to jurisdiction and cost problems.


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 metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...
, PCBs,
bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
, as well as
organochlorines Organochlorine chemistry is concerned with the properties of organochlorine compounds, or organochlorides, organic compounds that contain one or more carbon–chlorine bonds. The chloroalkane class ( alkanes with one or more hydrogens substituted ...
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. It is a bascule-type
drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...
. The Port of San Francisco extended Illinois Street across Islais Creek in 2006 to relieve traffic for Third Street. This crossing also uses a bascule bridge.


Notes and references


See also

*
List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area These watercourses (rivers, creeks, sloughs, etc.) in the San Francisco Bay Area are grouped according to the bodies of water they flow into. Tributaries are listed under the watercourses they feed, sorted by the elevation of the confluence so th ...


External links

* * * * * * * * {{good article Rivers of San Francisco Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of San Francisco Bay