Malpaso Creek
Malpaso Creek | |
---|---|
Etymology | Spanish: mal (bad) + paso (pass or step) |
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | |
• location | Little Malpaso Beach |
• coordinates | 36°28′53″N 121°56′17″W / 36.481395°N 121.938060°W |
Length | 4.25 mi (6.84 km) [1] |
Basin features | |
Progression | Malpaso Creek → Pacific Ocean |
Malpaso Creek is a small, coastal stream 5 miles (8.0 km) south of
Location
The creek and its canyon also defines the northern border of Garrapata State Park. The mouth of the creek is located at Little Malpaso Beach where there is a small white sandy beach, tide pools, and a narrow cave.[4]
Etymology
The creek was named by the United States Coast Survey from the hand-drawn diseño of
Geography and minerals
Beds of coarse sand and conglomerate containing coal occur in Malpaso Creek.[7] Malpaso creek is located in the Carmel Highlands,[8] immediately south of Yankee Point. The creek forms a natural northern boundary of the Big Sur region.[9]
In 1874, a seam of low grade
But by 1896, the coal mine was unprofitable.[12] In 1897, Alexander MacMillan Allan, a successful race track architect and real estate developer from Pennsylvania, was hired to improve the coal mine operation. When he found the coal mine could not produce a profit, he purchased 640 acres (260 ha) of Point Lobos from the Carmelo Land and Coal Company in 1898.[13]
Fauna and flora
The creek was formerly the southern limit of fast-growing Monterey pine before the species was planted widely.[14] Local distribution of Pelvetiopsis arborescens occurs in the rocks near the creek,[15] as does Rhodophysema elegans var. polystromatica. Callophyllis linearis occurs on rocks north of the creek, Gloiopeltis furcata and Callophyllis crenulata occur near the creek, Dictyota binghamiae occurs at the 1 foot (0.30 m) tide level near the creek, and Fucus distichus subspecies edentatus f. abbreviatus occurs in the creek's exposed areas.[16] Cucumaria curata has been found in tidepools on exposed rock areas near the creek.[17]
Anglers fish for
Highway 1 bridge
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, a foot trail along the coast was used by Native Americans. Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito was a 8,876-acre (35.92 km2)[18] Mexican land grant in present-day Big Sur, in Monterey County, California, given in 1835 to Teodoro Gonzalez and re-granted by Governor Juan Alvarado the same year to Marcelino Escobar.[19][20] A hand-drawn map created c. 1853 accompanying the grant indicated a road or trail was already present along the coast.[21][22] In 1870, Henry Bixby and his father hired men to improve the track and constructed the first wagon road including 23 bridges from the Carmel Mission to Bixby Creek.[23] Near the coast, a trail and later a road ran from Carmel to Big Sur during the 1800s. The creek has very steep side slopes and there was only one crossing (a ford only 10 feet (3.0 m) above sea level) until the Malpaso Creek Bridge was built in 1935 as part of Highway 1.
Malpaso Creek Bridge (No. 44-17)
The bridge is situated 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of the Carmel River on California State Route 1.[4]: 33 Along with six other Monterey County bridges on Highway 1, Malpaso Creek Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As a group, the bridges are referred to as the Big Sur Arches and may be the best works example of the California Division of Highways' bridge department.[28]
In popular culture
While serving in the US Army at nearby Fort Ord, actor Clint Eastwood developed an interest in Carmel area real estate. With income from his growing acting career, on December 24, 1967 he bought five parcels totaling 283 acres (115 ha) of land on the south side of Malpaso Creek from Charles Sawyer along Highway 1 near Malpaso Creek, south of the Carmel Highlands.[29]
He named his production company The Malpaso Company after the location. The company was established in 1967 by Eastwood's financial adviser Irving Leonard for the film Hang 'Em High, using profits from the Dollars Trilogy.[30][6] He later bought more land until he owned 650 acres (260 ha). The land stretched from the eastern side of Highway 1 to the coastal ridge. In 1995, Monterey County bought the land from him for $3.08 million, despite the fact that in July 1994 the county assessor showed the land's assessed value as only $308,682. The county put a permanent conservation easement on the Malpaso property.[31][32]
References
- ^ Google Earth. Accessed 18 April 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-8118-4998-2. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ Chatfield, Michael (May 5, 2014). "Big Sur Magic – Carmel Magazine". carmelmagazine.com. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7627-3568-6. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- from the original on 2018-01-09.
- ^ a b "Clint Eastwood". The Biography Channel. Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
- ^ California State Mining Bureau; California. Division of Mines and Geology (1921). Bulletin. pp. 84–. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-312-29032-0. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-7385-2913-4. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-520-22723-1. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ a b "The Allan Memorial Grove at Point Lobos State Reserve" (PDF). California State Parks. 2004. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ a b c Aubrey Drury, 1954, Point Lobos Reserve, California State Park, Department of Natural Resources, Sacramento, p. 78–85
- ^ "Unknown title". Robinson Jeffers Newsletter (90–100). Occidental College, Robinson Jeffers Committee: 57. 1994.
- ISBN 978-1-890771-28-7. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-2628-3. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-4019-7. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-1045-9. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ "Report of the Surveyor General 1844-1886" (PDF). p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-04.
- ^ Grimes, Teresa; Heumann, Leslie (January 7, 1997). "Historic Context Statement Carmel-by-the-Sea". ci.carmel.ca.us. Archived from the original on 2014-05-10. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
- ^ Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
- ^ "Diseño del Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito: Calif". Calisphere.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito
- ^ Walton, John (2007). "The Land of Big Sur Conservation on the California Coast" (PDF). California History. 85 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- ^ "Big Sur and Garrapata Creek Bridge Rail Replacement Project | Caltrans". dot.ca.gov. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
- ^ "District 5, Post Miles for Location Identification". dot.ca.gov. April 19, 1999. p. 3. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-520-21712-6. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ Hanchey, C. (March 6, 2009). "Malpaso Creek Bridge". bridgehunter.com. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ "Corridor Inventory-Executive Summaries". dot.ca.gov. Caltrans District 5. December 2001. p. 4. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ "Mutual Water Company Subscription Agreement - Victorine Ranch Mutual Water Company" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- ISBN 978-0002555289.
- ^ Pitnick, Richard (January 29, 1998). "Eastwood's Odello donation helped the movie mogul and the county". Retrieved October 25, 2016.
- ^ "Rancho Cañada Village" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Retrieved December 7, 2016.