The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California , United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley area at its southern end.
41-595: The community of San Antonio Valley , also called San Antonio or San Antone , is located along the Diablo Range in eastern Santa Clara County, California . The locale is bordered by Alameda County to the north and Stanislaus County to the east. The sparsely populated area is located at the junction of San Antonio Valley Road, Mines Road, and Del Puerto Canyon Road. The area includes the San Antonio Valley Ecological Reserve ,
82-541: A Deforest Post Office in the area during 1892. It was moved within the area in 1897, 1906, and finally closed in 1909. Another 1924 map calls a group of buildings along San Antonio Creek, Deforest. The name comes from Ransford S. Deforest, the first Postmaster in the community. The community lies in the San Antonio Valley , at elevation 2,133 feet (650 m). The valley is traversed by San Antonio Creek , which flows northwesterward to Arroyo Valle , part of
123-730: A 3,282-acre nature preserve created by a Nature Conservancy purchase of land from local rancher, Keith Hurner, and known for its herd of tule elk . The San Antonio Valley appears to have been a transitional area between the native Ohlone cultures from the San Francisco-Monterey region and the Yokuts of the San Joaquin River watershed. The Ohlone are speculated to have arrived in the Bay Area around 500 A.D. when they displaced Hokan speaking populations already in
164-612: A cataclysmic flood. The strait forms part of the county border between Solano (to the north) and Contra Costa (to the south), and it is approximately 15 mi (25 km) north of Oakland . The cities of Benicia and Vallejo lie on the north side of the strait, while Martinez , Port Costa , and Crockett sit on the southern coast. The Napa River joins the strait, via the short Mare Island Strait , near its entrance into San Pablo Bay. Its watershed covers 62,500 square miles (162,000 km ), approximately 40 percent of California's total surface. The California Maritime Academy
205-401: A community center as well as a stopping-off point for the many motorcycles, bicycles, and tourists that travel the roads. The area was served by manual telephone service until deregulation forced the arrival of dial service in the early 1980s. Prior to this, a non-dial Western Electric 1A1 coin telephone served on San Antonio Road about one mile east of Lick Observatory . Its telephone number
246-543: A decade there is seriously deep and long lasting snowfall. Mercury contamination near the southern end of the range is an ongoing problem, due to the New Idria quicksilver mines, which stopped production in the 1970s. Heavy mercury contamination has been documented in the San Carlos and Silver Creeks, which flow into Panoche Creek , and thence into the San Joaquin River . This has resulted in mercury contamination all
287-764: Is a narrow tidal strait located in the Bay Area of Northern California , United States. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay . The strait is eight miles (13 km) long and connects Suisun Bay , which receives the waters of the combined rivers, with San Pablo Bay , a northern extension of the San Francisco Bay. The strait formed in prehistoric times, near
328-550: Is at the western end of the strait on the northern waterfront. The C&H Sugar refinery is located on the southern shore in the small town of Crockett . The strait is crossed by two highway bridges: the Carquinez Bridge on Interstate 80 and the Benicia–Martinez Bridge on Interstate 680 . Each highway bridge consists of two spans. Interstate 780 connects the two highways on the northern slope of
369-639: Is dominated with nonnative invasives. Blooming in spring are such plants as Viola pedunculata , Dodecatheon pulchellum , Fritillaria liliacea , and Ribes malvaceum , which can be viewed in the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve . The range's riparian zones have such trees as bigleaf maple ( Acer macrophyllum ), white alder ( Alnus rhombifolia ), California bay ( Umbellularia californica ), and California sycamore ( Platanus racemosa ). The most common trees are coast live oak ( Quercus agrifolia ) and blue oak ( Quercus douglasii ), with
410-618: Is held in conservation easements by the California Rangeland Trust . Since the range lies around 10–50 miles (16–80 kilometers) inland from the ocean, and other coastal ranges like the Santa Lucia Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains block incoming moisture, the range gets little precipitation. In addition, the average elevation of 3,000 feet (910 m) is not high enough to catch most of
451-624: Is part of the Baldwin Deepwater Shipping Channel . The narrow gap in the Coast Range that forms the strait has led to the formation of the San Joaquin–Sacramento River Delta , an inverted river delta , upstream of it, a rare geological feature. The strait is too small to allow the passage of huge amounts of floodwaters created during years with heavy rainfall or snowmelt events. Because
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#1732772259681492-549: The Alameda Creek watershed. The community includes a CAL FIRE station at 47405 Mines Road. The station is called, Sweetwater - Station 25 and is part of the Santa Clara Ranger Unit, ( Firescope mutual aid identifier SCU). There is a restaurant at the junction of the three roads (Mines, San Antonio Valley, Del Puerto Canyon), appropriately called The Junction Bar and Grill. This restaurant serves as
533-806: The Briones Hills furthest north, then the Berkeley Hills , the San Leandro Hills centrally, and Walpert Ridge and Pleasanton Ridge to the southwest and southeast, culminating at Alameda Creek / Highway 84 . Geologically, the Diablo Range corresponds to the California Coast Ranges east of the Calaveras Fault in its northern section. For much of its length, it is paralleled by other sections of
574-742: The Carquinez Strait in the north to Orchard Peak and Polonio Pass in the south, near the point where State Route 46 crosses over the Coast Ranges at Cholame , as described by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It is bordered on the northeast by the San Joaquin River , on the southeast by the San Joaquin Valley , on the southwest by the Salinas River , and on the northwest by
615-709: The Sacramento River Delta and the Central Valley and was used by Joaquin Murrieta to transport stolen horses included among legally obtained mustangs taken by mesteñeros in the San Joaquin Valley . San Antonio Valley was one of the places along the Vereda where these horses were picked up from holding places nearby in Adobe Canyon and Isabel Valley . The U.S. Postal Service established
656-717: The Santa Clara Valley and San Francisco Bay . On USGS maps, the "Diablo Range" is shown as the ridgeline which runs between its namesake Mount Diablo southeastward past Mount Hamilton . However, the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) includes the East Bay Hills in its list of various GPS coordinates for the Diablo Range. Although not formally recognized by USGS GNIS, the East Bay Hills consists of
697-581: The 1800s. There still are numerous coyotes and some of the more vital mountain lion populations in the state. There are excellent populations of bobcats and gray foxes , which depend on the chaparral habitat. A species of millipede, Illacme plenipes , is endemic to the southern Diablo Range. First described in 1926, then not seen again until 2005, the species has more legs than any other species of millipede, with one specimen having 750. Carquinez Strait The Carquinez Strait ( / k ɑːr ˈ k iː n ə s / ; Spanish : Estrecho de Carquinez )
738-671: The California Coast Ranges to the west, the Santa Cruz Mountains across the southern San Francisco Bay and Santa Clara Valley, and the Santa Lucia Range across the Salinas Valley . The East Bay Hills are bounded geologically by the Calaveras Fault to the east and the Hayward Fault to the west. The range passes through Contra Costa , Alameda , San Joaquin , Santa Clara , Stanislaus , Merced , San Benito , Fresno , Monterey , and Kings Counties, and ends in
779-478: The Central Valley city of Tracy . South of Pacheco Pass, the only major nearby communities (those with a population over 15,000) are Los Banos , and Hollister . The small town of Coalinga may also be notable for its location on State Route 198 , one of the few routes through the mountains. Also the town of Kettleman City is also on State Route 41, another route that crosses the mountains. Towns west of
820-531: The Delta area is the first to fill and last to drain in a flood event, silt and soil have more time to drop out of suspension, creating the inverted river delta feature. Seawater is more dense than fresh water because of its higher concentration of salts. Under stable conditions, this means that an invisible boundary forms where two such streams meet, as where the fresh water from Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers meet
861-448: The Diablo Range include knobcone pine ( Pinus attenuata ), Jeffrey pine ( Pinus jeffreyi ) and ponderosa pine ( Pinus ponderosa ). The Diablo Range attracts far more raptors than coastal forests, such as red-tailed hawks . Golden eagle nesting sites are found in the Diablo Range, reaching their highest density in southern Alameda County. The Bay checkerspot butterfly , a federally listed threatened species , has habitat in
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#1732772259681902-814: The Range, especially at Mount Diablo. The California tiger salamander ( Ambystoma californiense ), also a federally threatened species and a vulnerable species of amphibian native to Northern California , lives in ponds in the range. The northern Pacific rattlesnake is thriving, as are many ground squirrels , hares , and various species of native and nonnative rodents. Tule elk ( Cervus canadensis ssp. nannodes ) were restored to Mount Hamilton between 1978-1981 and are slowly recovering in several small herds in Santa Clara and Alameda Counties. See Mount Hamilton elk recovery . Black-tailed deer are abundant. Pronghorn , grizzly bears , and wolves were extirpated in
943-561: The Santa Clara Valley, Livermore Valley and San Joaquin Valley are typically 400–1,000 feet (120–300 m). Canyons are usually 300–400 feet (91–122 m) deep; valleys are often deeper but less steep-sided. Peaks often have high topographic prominence, as they are surrounded by valleys or lower hills or plateaus. Streams draining the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range include Hospital Creek and Ingram Creek . Stream draining
984-739: The close of one of the past ice ages, when the Central Valley was a vast inland lake . Melting ice from the Sierra Nevada raised the water level while seismic activity created a new outlet to the Pacific Ocean, draining the lake into the ocean and exposing the valley floors. The strait is named after the Karkin people ( los Carquines in Spanish), a linguistic division of the Ohlone indigenous peoples who once resided on both sides of
1025-592: The decision-making process that officially named Army Point as the future dam site. Still more wrangling in the legislature was required before the "Salt Water Barrier" was officially adopted in May 1929, and made part of the state water conservation project. On January 24, 1930, with the Great Depression taking hold, President Herbert Hoover cancelled the Carquinez Strait project, saying that it
1066-454: The incoming moisture at higher altitudes. Winters are mild with moderate rainfall, but summers are very dry and hot. Areas above 2,500 feet (762 m) get light to moderate snow in the winter, especially at the highest point, the 5,241 ft (1,597 m) San Benito Mountain in the remote southeastern section of the range. However, though sites at the lower end get annual snowfall, it is typically light and melts too fast to be noticed. Once or twice
1107-512: The largest blue oak growing in Alameda County. There are also good populations of California buckeye ( Aesculus californica ), and California black oak ( Quercus kelloggii ). The gray pine ( Pinus sabiniana ) and rarer Coulter pine ( Pinus coulteri ) can be found at all elevations, especially between 800–3,000 feet (240–910 m). Coulter pine reaches its northern limit on northern of Mt. Diablo. The conifers at higher elevations in
1148-411: The northwesternmost extremity of Kern County . Though the average elevation is about 3,000 feet (910 meters), a summit of over 2,300 feet (700 m) is considered high, mainly because the range is mostly rolling grassland and plateaus, punctuated by isolated peaks. Plateaus are usually at about 2,000–3,000 feet (610–910 m). Hills rise to about 1,000 feet (300 m), while foothills such those in
1189-524: The ocean through a valley near present-day Monterey. However, ongoing seismic activity raised the coastal mountains sufficiently to plug this outlet. Concurrently, ice melting off the Sierras raised the water level in Lake Corcoran until the lake began to carve a new outlet to the ocean. At some point, the coastal barrier collapsed between today's cities of Crockett and Benicia, releasing lake water in
1230-670: The ocean was wasteful. While many solutions were proposed, few appeared practical. A political consensus formed that damming the Carquinez Strait should solve the seawater intrusion problem. In September 1923, the California Legislature appropriated $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 179,000 today) for a saltwater dam survey. The Federal government added a $ 20,000 contribution ($ 358,000 today) through the US Reclamation Service. Under Reclamation Service rules, another $ 10,000 needed to be raised from local supporters of
1271-438: The project. The necessary money was raised by March 1924, and the first of three site surveys was announced. The first survey was at Army Point, near Benicia, which was the preferred site based on preliminary studies. The second choice was Dillon Point , near Southampton Bay, while the third survey was at Point San Pablo , near Richmond. The three surveys were completed by the end of 1924. However, it took four years to complete
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1312-540: The range south of Gilroy include: Salinas , King City , and Paso Robles . Most of the range consists of private ranchland, limiting recreational use. However, the range does contain several areas of parkland, including Mount Diablo State Park , Alum Rock Park , Grant Ranch Park , Henry W. Coe State Park , Laguna Mountain Recreation Area , and the BLM 's Clear Creek Management Area. In addition, some private land
1353-683: The range. The Diablo Range is paralleled for much of its distance by U.S. Route 101 to the west and by I-5 to the east. Major routes of travel through the range include: A sparsely used gravel road is the highest road in the range, with its highest point being on San Benito Mountain at over 5,000 feet. The Diablo Range is largely unpopulated outside of the San Francisco Bay Area . Major nearby communities include, Antioch , Pittsburg , Concord , Walnut Creek , Alamo , Danville , San Ramon , Pleasanton , Livermore , Fremont , Milpitas , San Jose , Morgan Hill , and Gilroy and
1394-410: The region. On April 5, 1776, the de Anza Expedition called the area El Cañada de San Vicente . The 1956 Thomas Brothers map spells it San Antone. This spelling mimics the way it is pronounced in common, modern usage by locals. It was spelled San Antone on the 1924 "Mount Boardman, California" U.S. Geological Survey 15-minute quadrangle. La Vereda del Monte traversed the valley on its way between
1435-575: The sea water contained in the San Francisco Bay. By the early 20th century, farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta , who depended on irrigating their fields with fresh water from the two rivers noticed an increase in salinity farther inland than before. It became obvious that fresh water was being pumped out of the Delta faster than it could be replenished by rain and snow during the wet season. Farmers, businessmen and politicians complained that allowing fresh water to flow to
1476-490: The strait. Andrei Sarna-Wojcicki, a geologist emeritus of the US Geological Survey (USGS), estimates that the Carquinez Strait was likely formed about 640,000 to 700,000 years ago, while much of modern California was emerging from an ice age . The present Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley were covered by a huge lake (now extinct), which has been called Lake Corcoran . Initially, this lake drained into
1517-544: The strait. State Route 4 connects these highways south of and inland from the strait. A rail bridge just east of the Benicia–Martinez Bridge is used by the Capitol Corridor , California Zephyr , and Coast Starlight trains. A rail ferry , with the ferries Contra Costa and Solano provided service across the strait from 1878 near the location of the current rail bridge until the rail bridge
1558-736: The way downstream to the San Francisco Bay. Silver and San Carlos creeks provide a wetland environment in an otherwise arid region and are important for the ecology of the region. As of 2011, New Idria has been listed as a Superfund site and scheduled for cleanup. The Diablo Range is part of the California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion . It is covered mostly by chaparral and California oak woodland communities, with stands of closed-cone pine forests appearing above 4,000 feet (1,219 m). The native bunch grass savanna has been predominantly replaced by annual Mediterranean grasses , except in some rare habitat fragments. The understory
1599-415: The western slopes include Alameda Creek and Coyote Creek . The Diablo Range's peaks and ridges are between 2,517–5,241 feet (767–1,597 m) and are distinct landmarks. Mount Diablo (3,849 feet (1,173 m)), San Benito Mountain (5,241 feet (1,597 m)), Mount Hamilton Ridge (4,230–4,260 feet (1,290–1,300 m)), and Mount Stakes (3,804 feet (1,159 m)) are four of the highest peaks in
1640-524: Was San Antonio California Toll Station Number 3 . Today, wired telephone numbers for the area follow the format ( 408 ) 897-xxxx. The telephone utility serving this area today is Frontier Communications. Red Mountain: The Rise and Fall of a Magnesite Mining Empire, 1900-1947 by Robert W. P. Cutler, Morris Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-9713235-0-X I Made a Lot of Tracks by Phil Stadtler, CP Media, Bonanza, OR, 2007, ISBN 0-9759841-2-8 Diablo Range The Diablo Range extends from
1681-624: Was built in 1930. Tall pylons carrying power lines cross the strait as well. The Carquinez Strait Powerline Crossing was the world's first powerline crossing of a large river. The channel is navigable and is used for commercial and military shipping. Deep water ship traffic bound for both the Port of Sacramento and the Port of Stockton traverse the strait through the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel and Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel . Carquinez Strait