San Lorenzo River Goes on a Rampage

When we recall disastrous floods in the San Lorenzo Valley we think of the horrendous life taking floods of ’55 and ’82. But both flooding and the inevitable ensuing mudslides are a recurring theme in the history of the Valley.

In the winter of 1940, it rained and rained. Overflow from the reservoir above the town of Boulder Creek brought down a torrent of water. The torrent moved a log jam sending a cascade of water flooding into the town.

Image: Pilger Collection, San Lorenzo Valley Museum.

The sudden rush of water damaged streets such as Pine which was piled high with debris of mud, rocks, and timbers. A grader found it impossible to travel though the area and ended up stuck in the rubble. Homes were abandoned and Boulder Creek’s hotels were “packed to capacity with refugees.”

Image: Pilger Collection, San Lorenzo Valley Museum.

There were at least five slides along Highway 9, with the Blue Slide between Brookdale and Ben Lomond and a slide at Glen Arbor being the most dangerous. Power and telephone lines were down between the Valley and Santa Cruz, and Ben Lomond residents were without water for four days when the wooden pipe serving the town from Marshall Creek failed. Residents hauled water from the town’s stores and private wells.

Leslie B. McBride had to use pack mules to get feed to his hundreds of chickens on Love Creek.

The Brookdale Lodge suffered major damage, though excess water in the creek though the dining room was averted by automatic flood doors at each end of the building and so prevented what could have been a disaster for the renowned resort.

Of the river resorts, Paradise Park, Gold Gulch, and Felton Grove were the worst hit with some property so badly damaged it would need to be abandoned. The route from San Francisco to Boulder Creek along Skyline was open on the day after the worst flooding and it was reported as “heavily traveled by valley summer residents who rushed down to view [their] damaged property.”

Storm damage was suffered throughout the county and neighboring areas. Big Creek State Fish Hatchery, which was established in 1926, was closed as a result of the damage by the storm, the eggs being moved to the hatchery at Brookdale. Though storm damage was a major factor in its closing, another, just as important, was the inadequate water supply of the prior years.