Temescal Creek
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Temescal Creek is one of the principal watercourses in the city of Oakland, California.
The word "temescal" derives from the word temescalli, which means "sweat house" in the Nahuatl language of the Mexica ("Aztec") people of Mexico. The name was given to the creek when it became part of the Peralta's Rancho San Antonio. It is surmised that the Peraltas or perhaps one of their ranch hands (vaqueros) had seen local indigenous (Ohlone) structures along the creek similar to those in other parts of New Spain which were called temescalli.
Two forks begin in the Berkeley Hills in the eastern section of Oakland (sometimes referred to as the "Oakland Hills"), part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, coming together in the Temescal district of Oakland, then flowing westerly across Oakland and Emeryville to San Francisco Bay.
The north fork of Temescal Creek was re-named "Harwood's Creek" in the 19th century after the owner of land in the upper stretches of the north fork. It was re-named yet again "Claremont Creek" in the early 20th century after a residential development in the same vicinity, today's Claremont district.
The south fork begins in the northern section of Oakland's Montclair district, flowing southwest out of a canyon in the hills, then turning abruptly northwestward in the linear valley formed by the Hayward Fault. It then flows into Lake Temescal, a natural sag pond which was dammed in the 19th century to increase its capacity for use as a reservoir. Lake Temescal is now a public park.
The creek continues out of Lake Temescal, curving westerly around the end of the shutter ridge in the Rockridge district of Oakland, then flowing almost in a line toward the Bay.
Temescal Creek is a perennial stream, and as such, was much valued in the past. At its mouth, the indigenous Ohlone people (Chochen/Huichin band), and their predecessors, built up a large shellmound on the site of today's Emeryville, the largest and most studied shellmound on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay.
When the area was part of the Peralta's Rancho San Antonio, the site near the shellmound was one of the principal landings for the ranch where their cattle and hides were loaded for shipping. Cattle were slaughtered here right up through the early 20th century for various meatpacking plants located in Emeryville and the adjacent section of Berkeley.
Today, the creek is mostly underground in culverts in the flatlands, but many stretches are open above Lake Temescal. In the early 2000's, a segment of the creek below the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad in Emeryville was opened up to run as a lined channel through the new shopping district there, along a street named "Ohlone Way". This is just about the spot where the Emeryville shellmound once stood. A small informational park is situated here. At Shellmound Street, the creek returns to a culvert which takes it to San Francisco Bay.
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