Part 3 – Two for One at Briones

Referring back to the Roadmap, this presentation brings water and Lamorinda into the second wave of expansion of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, EBMUD, in the 1950s and 1960s, and how it sealed off the northern rim of the area from development with Briones Reservoir and Briones Regional Park.

L230-05-Compiled by Stuart Swiedler, (Image 1 of 23)

This EBMUD-produced graphic from 1961 outlines the multi-dimensional expansion of services that were timely in providing a reliable water supply for the 21st century. Activity had begun in the early 1950s with a 4.5 M dollar expansion including Leland Reservoir in Lafayette, and a five-fold increase in filtering capacity in the Lafayette Filter Plant as reported in the Oct. 3, 1952 Oakland Tribune.

L230-10-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 2 of 23)

For Briones Reservoir, land purchases can be traced back to this 1908 map showing the increasing presence of the Peoples Water Co.’s acquisition of land on the east side of Bear Creek, south end at the red circle, with the exception of the Martinez property, to be addressed later. Rancho El Sobrante requires a closer look.

L230-15-Courtesy Earth Sciences and Map Library, University of California, Berkeley, (Image 3 of 23)

The land map of interest is shown her, dating from 1909. Ref: G4362.E47 1909.B7

L230-20-Courtesy Earth Sciences and Map Library, University of California, Berkeley, (Image 4 of 23)

In particular, the tract owned by Julia P.A. Prather would have to be purchased. Muir Sorrick’s book “The History of Orinda” states that Peoples Water Co. bought property in the area of the present San Pablo Dam, San Pablo Creek, and Bear Creek, including 442 acres owned by Richard Rowland in 1906. In addition, East Bay Water Co. received land from the Contra Costa Water Co. acquisition of the Moses Hopkins Estate that included the Wagner Estate. Ref: G4362.E47 1909.B7

L230-25-Courtesy Earth Sciences and Map Library, University of California, Berkeley, Detail, (Image 5 of 23)

On the purchase of East Bay Water Co. land by EBMUD in Dec. 1928, the area that would include the future reservoir and part of the regional park were not purchased by the latter. The explanation for this is not known, but raising more bond money for land with no immediate use could probably not be justified at the time. Ref: Ref: G4363 A3646 1920.L3

L230-30-Courtesy Earth Sciences and Map Library, University of California, Berkeley, (Image 6 of 23)

By 1953, EBMUD’s coverage area had increased from 1929, but their holdings fell short for the preferred site for a new reservoir. Ref: G4364.R6 1951 .T38

L230-35-Courtesy Earth Sciences and Map Library, University California, Berkeley , (Image 7 of 23)

The location of the planned earth-fill, Briones Dam and Reservoir, left panel from 2018, with a comparison of the landscape in 1939, right, was leaked over a two-year period, starting with a figure in the June 20, 1957 Oakland Tribune, until a formal announcement on Jan 16, 1959. According to metrics presented in John Noble’s “Its Name was M.U.D.”, it is deeper than previous efforts, with 1.5 times the capacity of San Pablo or Upper San Leandro, in about a third of the watershed, the total even less than that for Lake Chabot.

L230-40-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 8 of 23)

Even more interesting and very simple using Google Earth, layering the 1939 version over the 2018 aerial allows visualization of the type of terrain lost in the construction process.

L230-45-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 9 of 23)

This northeast view from 2017 serves to indicate the first issue over the reservoir’s planned placement. The black arrow indicates where Bear Creek Rd. makes a wide turn. As an aside, Pacific Gas and Electric bought two lots from EBMUD after the reservoir's completion to construct the Sobrante substation in 1965, seen along the right edge.

L230-50-Stuart Swiedler, (Image 10 of 23)

This northeast illustration used by EBMUD in 1959 shows the position of the dam relative to the original path of Bear Creek Rd., indicating it would have to be rerouted to construct the reservoir in the valley as shown. More images like this next time.

L230-55-Courtesy the East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 11 of 23)

After much haggling, a much wider road was built. As can be appreciated from this figure, at an exorbitant price exceeding 5 million dollars, more than one-third the cost of the entire reservoir project. From newspaper articles, the final location was not decided upon prior to the dam and reservoir construction.

L230-60-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 12 of 23)

The second issue concerned eminent domain and loss of property by valley landowners. Although EBMUD did not purchase this land in 1928, the Daily Review from June 20, 1957 stated that most of the land was in hand. EBMUD could not provide a list and metrics related to land ownership, but they were very helpful supplying two maps, starting with this contour version signed and dated, D. L. Paff, Oct. 7, 1957.

L230-65-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 13 of 23)

Presented here is a detail showing names from the previous map from 1957 with the approximate course of Bear Creek Rd., orange broken line, added in. “Its Name is M.U.D.” states that 832 acres of land for Briones was acquired in the early 1960s from 28 property owners, 7 of whom tried to stop the sale in court. An Oakland Tribune article from 1959 stated that over 20 landowners were informed of the final plans.

L230-70-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 14 of 23)

EBMUD also provided this geological map from Dec. 1958. The names of landowners with large sections have been relabeled for easy viewing. EBMUD had already owned the property along Bear Creek, particularly the section parallel to and crossing Bear Creek Rd. The color-coded legend indicating the geologic compositions is included. A detail of the central area is next.

L230-75-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 15 of 23)

The central area where the reservoir turns from north to east had the largest collection of owners. It is fairly consistent with the 1957 version, although at least one name in 1957, Wachsman, is now Bostro. County phone books from the late 1950s were matched against the names gathered to date, shown along the left column. Names in bold had an address listed on Bear Creek Rd., and two alternative spellings as indicated were found. Some of the names matched with other Orinda addresses.

L230-80-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 16 of 23)

Individual images of properties were not provided, but one land purchasing agreement was available. This three page document shown involved purchase of the land from the extended Cutter family. Aerial views of the valley prior to the reservoir construction will be shown in a future presentation to follow.

L230-85-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 17 of 23)

Construction began in late Dec. 1960. The Oct. 12, 1961 Oakland Tribune reported that Orinda residents did complain about the noise from earth-moving equipment operating from 6 AM to midnight. The water district purposely dug the pipes deep in this project to avoid impacting surface land. Sleepy Hollow Elementary School can be seen along the right edge. Northeast view, Aug. 1963

L230-90-Herrington-Olsen Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 138476cv, (Image 18 of 23)

This north view of construction is from Mar. 8, 1965, just short of the opening day of May 14, 1965.

L230-95-Herrington-Olson Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 137549cv, (Image 19 of 23)

By May 13, 1965, the water district was very confident that water would be available for the future, and that rings true in 2020. This confidence is reflected by the title of this presentation, “Two for One”, in that in addition to the reservoir, Lamorinda received a second much larger gift at a bargain price, the Briones Regional Park, and this occurred prior to the public disclosure of the location of the new dam and reservoir.

L230-100-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 20 of 23)

This late 1950s north-oriented aerial, right, shows the area where Briones Regional Park would be placed, with a historical timeline, left. The plans had been in negotiation beginning in Jan. 1956 according to the Oakland Tribune of Feb. 27, 1957. Ten parcels were to be obtained over a 10-year period. Sanitary and erosion control were to follow those for a watershed.

L230-105-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 21 of 23)

As reported in the Oct. 2, 1957 Oakland Tribune, EBMUD offered to sell 6500 acres of San Pablo Reservoir watershed west of the new reservoir site to any public agency for park development, but the county and park district showed no interest. The 1960s were a time of adjustment for EBMUD, in terms of restricting land sales at the expense of raising funds, and coexisting with East Bay Regional Park in management of its watershed lands opened to the public.

L230-110-Thomas Map Of CCC, Courtesy Pleasant Hill Library, (Image 22 of 23)

The combination of the reservoirs and parkland related directly or indirectly to water resource development sealed off Lamorinda with Lafayette Reservoir in the center as shown in this 1980 map. Next to discuss the appearance of the Briones Valley just prior to construction of the dam and reservoir. Appreciation to EBMUD, and Dana Mims and Kathryn Horn, in particular, for providing material for his update.

L230-115-1980 AAA Map, Modfied by Stuart Swiedler, (Image 23 of 23)