Part 4 – Briones Valley Before the Flood

This image labeled by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, EBMUD, as a typical straight section of Bear Creek Road, Apr. 1, 1960, is no illusion, but if the width of the road and its surroundings appearance are not recognizable, it is because this stretch no longer exists.

L231-01-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 1 of 35)

In the previous section, Two for One at Briones, the nuts-and-bolts of how the undeveloped Briones Valley, right, was transformed to a dam, reservoir and watershed, left, were reviewed.

L231-05-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 2 of 35)

Next to examine what it was like to have traversed the valley just before and during the transformation in 1959. Ref: A combination of BUU-4V-11, 8-13-58 AND BUU-12V-59, 5-15-59

L231-10-Courtesy U.C. Santa Barbara Library, Special Research Collections, Detail , (Image 3 of 35)

By 1953, EBMUD had already acquired the land for the position of the dam, and the entire portion Bear Creek Rd., orange line, up to and including the crossings of Bear Creek, indicated by the colored circles. As shown in the previous update, residences and ranches were primarily situated at the junction of Bear Creek Rd. and Hampton Park Rd., enclosed by the gold box.

L231-15-Thomas Bros. Map, Courtesy Pleasant Hill Branch, Contra Costa County Library, (Image 4 of 35)

This north-oriented aerial from Apr. 28, 1957, prior to the project onset, shows the relationship of the reservoir, black line, to the road, white line. The reservoir would include the residences and ranches shown in the previous map, eliminating Bear Creek, Bear Creek Rd. and the connection of the latter with Hampton Park Rd.

L231-20-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 5 of 35)

Next, three aerial views from early 1959, beginning with this northeast view looking up the road and creek starting at the position of the future dam. As background, most, if not all, of the area’s cattle ranching activity in the 1950s was the business of Frank Dutra, born in Concord around 1900, and described by Virginia Dennison in an Oakland Tribune article of Apr. 23, 1950 as the area's last cattleman.

L231-25-Herrington-Olson Photo 10-15090, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 6 of 35)

After heading north, this early 1959 aerial points more to the east and includes the populated section near the left edge. Dutra lived in Orinda, but had multiple properties including 1100 acres on Howland Island near Knightsen. Cattle grazing on leased water company land goes back to the early 20th century, much of which was taken over by Dutra in 1940.

L231-30-Herrington-Olson Photo 10-15088, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 7 of 35)

Finally, an east view from early 1959 taken above the populated section following the road, creek and valley as it turned east. Dutra’s Bar D and its twin, Bar X, ranches included most of Rancho El Sobrante and Ranch El Pinole; from Bear Creek Rd. to the town of el Sobrante, on both side of San Pablo Dam Reservoir, and Tilden Park to the West, Franklin Canyon Highway to the east. Circa 1950, he sold as many as 40 to 50-thousand head of cattle.

L231-35-Herrington-Olson Photo 10-15089, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 8 of 35)

Finally it should be mentioned that the reservoir project did not impact the headquarters of the Bar D ranch, a sliver of which can be seen on this Apr. 1, 1960 image. Muir Sorrick’s “The History of Orinda”, published in the 1970s, noted that Dutra’s “Orinda ranch headquarters is still on Bear Creek Rd., not far from where the Orinda Park Railroad Station stood on the old Symmons Ranch”, previously James Eva’s ranch.

L231-40-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 9 of 35)

A close-range oblique aerial of the ranch headquarters from before the reservoir project was not available, but the insert, right, of a vertical view, left, from the opening day of the reservoir, May 14, 1965, shows the headquarters. A combination of Google maps and historicaerials.com show structures from 1946 until they vanished between 1988-1993. It was not determined how many of the 7000 acres of grazing land leased in the 1950s by Dutra from EBMUD was available by 1965. Ref: cas-65-130; CC 7-18, 05-14-1965

L231-45-Courtesy U.C. Santa Barbara Library, Special Research Collections, Detail , (Image 10 of 35)

Before proceeding further, images to be shown may include changes to the terrain from the initial Test Embankment Program of 1959, as shown in these four dated photos. The acquisition of private properties was not completed until 1960, and full-scale construction did not commence until late 1960.

L231-50-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 11 of 35)

This southeast panoramic view from Feb. 2 1959 taken upstream of the future dam serves two purposes. First, the insert highlights the Dutra Ranch headquarters. The orange arrow points to the intersection of Bear Creek Rd. and San Pablo Dam Rd., the next destination in this update.

L231-55-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 12 of 35)

It is hard to imagine the height of the new dam relative to what was there before, but this image from May 15, 1959 provides the highest point looking upstream from near the intersection of Bear Creek Rd. and San Pablo Dam Rd.

L231-60-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 13 of 35)

Next to head further northeast on Bear Creek Rd., settling on the bridge, blue arrow, under which Bear Creek continued to San Pablo Dam on Feb. 15, 1959. The road along the bottom of the image is San Pablo Dam Road, and the orange arrow points to the EBMUD facility that is still there in 2020.

L231-65-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 14 of 35)

Two bridge scenes from April 1, 1960 include a south view down roadway typical of the best portions of Bear Creek Rd., here the bridge over Bear Creek, left, and a southwest view of the creek running under the same bridge, right. This bridge did not survive dam construction.

L231-70-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, T-363, T-364 , (Image 15 of 35)

To follow, four oblique aerial images from Feb. 15, 1959 overlaid with an outline of the dam. This view is to the northeast.

L231-75-W. T. Hartman Photo, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 16 of 35)

A second overlaid aerial, this time more to the north from Feb. 15, 1959, looking down the road and the creek.

L231-80-W. T. Hartman Photo, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 17 of 35)

A third overlaid aerial from Feb. 15, 1959, viewing the left abutment toward the northwest, with San Pablo Reservoir in the upper left corner.

L231-85-W. T. Hartman Photo, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 18 of 35)

Finally, a southeast view of the right abutment from Feb. 15, 1959. The upper right section shows Sleepy Hollow Elementary, opened in 1953, added as an insert to show the entire school complex.

L231-90-W. T. Hartman Photo, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 19 of 35)

Next, imagine a view from within the valley and looking downstream or back to the southwest toward the San Pablo Dam Rd. This view from Mar. 11, 1957 shows Bear Creek Rd. along the right border. According to EBMUD’s caption, this photo was taken from the upper extent of the reservoir pool, if the flow line was elevation 690 ft. The elevation change is hard to appreciate, but go to the next image.

L231-95-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 20 of 35)

Moving southwest, closer to the dam site on May 15, 1959, the height of the dam is added to this southwest or downstream view.

L231-100-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District , (Image 21 of 35)

Some additional view from Mar. 19, 1957, before any work had started. Shown is a general view of the left abutment looking southwest, with Bear Creek Rd. in the foreground.

L231-105-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 22 of 35)

An additional southwest view from Mar. 19, 1957 of the left abutment.

L231-110-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 23 of 35)

To be complete, a northeast view of right abutment looking downstream, Mar. 11, 1957.

L231-115-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 24 of 35)

Early 1959, this oblique southwest view was taken further upstream or northeast of the dam.

L231-120-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 25 of 35)

Proceeding further northeast and continuing a southwest view in early 1959 brings houses into view where Bear Creek Rd. turned east and Hampton Park Rd. headed north at the branch point.

L231-125-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 26 of 35)

A detail of the previous early 1959 southwest view reveals the details of the houses in the area.

L231-130-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 27 of 35)

The last order of business is an attempt to identify the houses in survey photos using the information presented in the previous update and summarized here. These EBMUD maps don’t exactly match, and hoping to find addresses in 1950s Contra Costa County telephone directories was disappointing. What will be presented here is very preliminary until additional sources of information become available.

L231-135-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 28 of 35)

Significant guesswork provided a possible assignment of names to structures from the early 1959 southwest view. Realizing this was not going to be possible without another source of records, other images were reviewed to look for any additional structures.

L231-140-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 29 of 35)

Starting with this west view from Feb. 15, 1959, this is where the structures begin on Bear Creek Rd., one additional small structure not seen previously is marked by the blue arrow.

L231-145-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 30 of 35)

Moving northeast from the previous image, this west view from Feb. 15, 1959 provides another structure, blue arrow, with a driveway. This location doesn’t match up with any structure listed on the EBMUD maps.

L231-150-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 31 of 35)

A vertical, north-oriented aerial from Apr. 28, 1957 provides an extended view to the east, the insert providing possible assignments of the structures seen.

L231-155-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 32 of 35)

Another east view from the late 1950s looks further east along Bear Creek Rd. with no additional structures noted.

L231-160-Fred Anthon Photo, Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, (Image 33 of 35)

This Apr. 1, 1960 image was referred to as a typical section of Hampton Park Rd. So far, research efforts have not uncovered any additional images of the more southerly section of this road that was replaced by the reservoir.

L231-165-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility District, T-368, (Image 34 of 35)

Finally, images of the outer eastern-most sections along Bear Creek Rd. were not found, although this Apr. 1, 1960 image was labelled as a view downstream of Briones Valley Rd. Bridge over Bear Creek. Appreciation to EBMUD, and Dana Mims and Kathryn Horn, in particular, for providing the images and other information for this update.

L231-170-Courtesy East Bay Municipal Utility Distric, T-367, (Image 35 of 35)