Misplaced Pages

#315684

112-941: The Palo Alto Baylands is located at 37°27′35″N 122°06′23″W  /  37.459608°N 122.106412°W  / 37.459608; -122.106412 in Santa Clara County . The preserve consists of the former Yacht Harbor area, the Palo Alto Airport, the Municipal Golf Course, the Duck Pond and public picnic area, the Baylands Athletic Center, the Sailing Station, the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center,

224-461: A 1,200,000 acres (490,000 ha) area encompassing much of eastern Santa Clara County as well as portions of southern Alameda County, western Merced and Stanislaus Counties , and northern San Benito County . Acquisitions to date include the 1,756-acre (711 ha) Rancho Cañada de Pala , straddling the Alameda Creek and Coyote Creek watersheds for California tiger salamander habitat;

336-718: A B.A. in Civil Engineering with the class of 1902. At first named Assistant City Engineer, he became City Engineer in 1906. Lucy Evans graduated from Stanford in 1929 and taught at Mayfield School for 23 years. She fought for the preservation of the Baylands, and her determination earned her the appellation "Baylands Lucy." She died suddenly in 1978. The Baylands Nature Interpretive Center was rededicated to her memory in December 1978. The Harriet Mundy Marsh extends from Lucy Evans Nature Interpretive Center to Sand Point and

448-473: A Caliph) on their way to Guerrero, Mexico where they played a future role in the wars of independence . Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain , putting ashore in Monterey . Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into

560-459: A Spanish navigator." The name most likely derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia , as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo . Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons , as well as griffins and other strange beasts. Abbreviations of

672-598: A commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush . From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail , California Trail , Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico

784-482: A conservation easement on the 3,259-acre Blue Oak Ranch Reserve , which abuts the north side of Joseph D. Grant County Park ; a conservation easement on the 28,359-acre San Felipe Ranch, connecting Joseph D. Grant County Park with Henry W. Coe State Park ; the 2,899-acre South Valley Ranch which protects a tule elk herd in the San Antonio Valley, and other properties. As of 1980, Santa Clara County had

896-498: A few hundred feet at Mount Boardman ), Stanislaus , Merced , San Benito , Santa Cruz , and San Mateo County . Santa Clara County formerly shared borders with Contra Costa , San Francisco , Mariposa , Monterey , and Tuolumne counties until 1853, 1856, 1874, and 1854 respectively (Monterey County currently comes within a few miles of Santa Clara). The San Andreas Fault runs along the Santa Cruz Mountains in

1008-654: A fifth herd of tule elk was documented by local naturalist Roger Castillo, likely having split from the Coyote Ridge herd and established itself in Silver Creek Valley around the closed Ranch Golf Club. The elk herds in eastern Santa Clara County are blocked from dispersal to the west by U.S. Highway 101, with environmentalists advocating re-purposing the Metcalf Road bridge at the Coyote Gap into

1120-576: A free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians", were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians . One of these de facto slave auctions was approved by the Los Angeles City Council and occurred for nearly twenty years. There were many massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed by settlers for their land. Between 1850 and 1860,

1232-575: A majority in the county was Ronald Reagan in 1984. While Republicans remained competitive at the state and local level throughout the 1990s, there are currently no elected Republicans representing the county above the local level. According to the California Secretary of State , as of February 10, 2019, Santa Clara County has 895,965 registered voters. Of those, 405,470 (45.3%) are registered Democrats , 151,213 (16.9%) are registered Republicans , and 308,769 (35.4%) have declined to state

SECTION 10

#1732780228316

1344-624: A modest home which in the 1960s cost $ 25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses, expecting to make a huge profit in months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as people assumed prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as prices began to crash. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared, as financial institutions and investors were badly hurt. In

1456-732: A number of other officials to county-wide positions, including the Santa Clara County District Attorney, the Santa Clara County Sheriff, and a large number of criminal and civil judges that serve in courts throughout the county. Historically, Santa Clara County was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections. From 1872 through 1984 , the only Democrats to carry Santa Clara County were Franklin Roosevelt , Lyndon Johnson , and Hubert Humphrey . However, 1988 would begin to mark

1568-469: A part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769. In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both

1680-444: A political party. As of November 2012, all of the cities, towns, and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County have more registered Democrats than Republicans. In 2008 , Barack Obama carried every city and town in the county, as well as the unincorporated areas. Following the passage of Proposition 8 , Santa Clara County joined San Francisco and Los Angeles in a lawsuit , becoming, along with San Francisco and Los Angeles,

1792-456: A public swimming pool), and baseball and softball fields at the Baylands Athletic Center. The Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center is built on pilings at the edge of the salt marsh. A plank walk leads a quarter-mile across the marsh to open water and a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay. The interpretive center was renovated in 2017 and the boardwalk was renovated in 2019. Santa Clara County Santa Clara County , officially

1904-748: A short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento . Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood . On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 , California became a free state and September   9 a state holiday . During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of

2016-580: A significant shift in the county's political leanings, starting with Michael Dukakis ' narrow win and culminating in Bill Clinton 's substantial 20-point victory in 1992 . Since then, the Democratic presidential candidate has won Santa Clara County by large margins, and it also remains solidly blue in congressional elections, as all politicians representing the county at the state and federal level are known to be Democrats. The last Republican to win

2128-612: A state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only

2240-662: A wildlife overcrossing. This would enable elk to recolonize rural southwestern Santa Clara County, as well as Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties. In 1990, the California Department of Fish and Game 's Henry Coletto translocated excess pronghorn from Modoc County to six locations in California, including 51 animals to the San Felipe Ranch in Santa Clara County, where the swift-footed ungulates had not lived for generations. The animals left

2352-621: Is Sacramento . The state's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California. The Central Valley , a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. The large size of

SECTION 20

#1732780228316

2464-506: Is James R. Williams, J.D. The County Executive is responsible for the administration of the county and appoints almost all other officers and department heads. The county is one among three counties in California (with Napa and Madera) to establish a separate department, the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, to deal with corrections pursuant to California Government Code §23013. The county operates

2576-787: Is a state in the Western United States , lying on the American Pacific Coast . It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With nearly 39   million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km ), it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest by area, and most populated subnational entity in North America . Prior to European colonization , California

2688-539: Is a public library system serving the communities and cities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, and all unincorporated areas of the county. Other cities run their own library systems. The county's main airport is Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC). It is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry and as of 2019 has five international routes (two to Canada, one to England, one to Japan, seven to Mexico, and one to China) but

2800-484: Is considered to be Silicon Valley is within the county, although some adjoining tech regions in San Mateo (e.g., Facebook ), Alameda , and Santa Cruz counties are also considered part of Silicon Valley. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,291.08 square miles (3,343.9 km ). Counties which border with Santa Clara County are, clockwise, Alameda County , San Joaquin (within

2912-958: Is served by Caltrain commuter rail from Gilroy through San Jose and Silicon Valley north to San Francisco Airport and San Francisco . The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority operates the VTA light rail system, which primarily serves San Jose, with one line continuing as far north as Mountain View . Santa Clara and San Jose are also served by the Altamont Corridor Express commuter rail line which provides services to Stockton , and Amtrak which provides service to Sacramento and Oakland . The Amtrak Coast Starlight train between Seattle and Los Angeles also stops in San Jose. BART currently services Milpitas and North San Jose , with plans to extend to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara . California California

3024-526: Is the home of Hollywood , the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. The San Francisco Bay and the Greater Los Angeles areas are seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. The Spaniards gave the name Las Californias to the peninsula of Baja California (in modern-day Mexico). As Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland,

3136-504: The Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles, he convinced each side that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States. In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during

3248-652: The Bear Flag Revolt . Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide , who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic

3360-715: The California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop an efficient system of public education. Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 9% of US armaments produced during World War II , ranking third behind New York and Michigan . California easily ranked first in production of military ships at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and

3472-538: The County of Santa Clara , is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California , with a population of 1,936,259 as of the 2020 census . Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County form the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metropolitan statistical area , which is part of the larger San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area . Santa Clara is the most populous county in

Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve - Misplaced Pages Continue

3584-502: The De Anza Expedition on March 23, 1776: " In Gilroy Valley (Santa Clara Valley) Moraga 's larder was replenished by three elks which the men killed without leaving the road." General John Bidwell , of the 1841 Bartleson-Bidwell Party wrote: "In some of the fertile valleys, such as Napa and Santa Clara, there were elk literally by the thousand." In 1978, California Department of Fish and Game warden Henry Coletto urged

3696-566: The Graham Affair , which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials. One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh . After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as

3808-553: The Indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's first governor Peter Hardeman Burnett instituted policies that have been described as a state-sanctioned policy of elimination of California's indigenous people. Burnett announced in 1851 in his Second Annual Message to the Legislature: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between

3920-522: The Palo Alto Airport had reduced the tidal marsh to 352 acres (1.42 km). The Byxbee Park Hills area of Baylands was named for John Fletcher Byxbee Jr., Palo Alto City Engineer from 1906 to 1941. Byxbee was a member of the first graduating class of Palo Alto High School. At Stanford University he studied under C. D. Marx, founder of the City of Palo Alto utilities system, and graduated with

4032-616: The Presidio of San Diego , the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay. After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along

4144-774: The Route 66 . From 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 90% non-Hispanic white. To meet the population's needs, engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts ; the Oroville and Shasta Dams ; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. The state government adopted

4256-583: The San Francisco Bay Area and in Northern California . The county seat and largest city with a population of 971,233 is San Jose , the 13th-most populous city in the nation, California's third-most populous city , and the most populous city in Northern California . Home to Silicon Valley , Santa Clara County is an economic center for high technology , and had the third-highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in

4368-764: The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge to add genetic diversity to the San Antonio Valley Ecological Reserve herd in San Antonio Valley in extreme eastern Santa Clara County. As of 2017 there were four herds in the Coyote Ridge area, often visible from U. S. Highway 101, according to Craige Edgerton, recently retired executive director of the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy and local naturalist Michael Hundt. In 2019,

4480-713: The Santa Clara County Health System of medical centers and clinics. In the United States House of Representatives , Santa Clara County is split among four congressional districts: In the California State Senate , the county is split among four legislative districts: In the California State Assembly , the county is split among six legislative districts: Voters in the county also elect

4592-527: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah . The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as

Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-575: The U.S. Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad , 118 U.S. 394 (1886), in which the court extended due-process rights to artificial legal entities . In the early 20th century, the area was promoted as the "Valley of the Heart's Delight" due to its natural beauty, including a significant number of orchards . The region was also memorably referred to as the "sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley" in Jack London's 1903 Call of

4816-673: The coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza , the Viceroy of New Spain , to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island . Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of

4928-493: The near threatened Ridgway's rail and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse . Several gray fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ) breeding pairs inhabit the Baylands where they are relatively safe from large predators like puma ( Puma concolor ). The preserve contains 15 miles of multi-use trails and also includes the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center, the Palo Alto Duck Pond (originally built as

5040-513: The 18th century. The Portolá expedition of 1769–70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios , and pueblos . The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá , who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra , who came by sea from Baja California . In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and

5152-491: The 1992 Rodney King riots. California was the hub of the Black Panther Party , known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice. Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 70s. During the 20th century, two great disasters happened: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain

5264-403: The 21st century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive. One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States occurred in California on January 26, 2020. A state of emergency was declared in

5376-522: The California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco . The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay . Coincidentally the descendants of the Muslim Caliph Hasan ibn Ali in formerly Islamic Manila and had converted, then mixed Christianity with Islam, upon Spanish conquest, transited through California (Named after

5488-526: The California coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco ( Mission San Francisco de Asís ), San Diego ( Mission San Diego de Alcalá ), Ventura ( Mission San Buenaventura ), or Santa Barbara ( Mission Santa Barbara ), among others. Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into

5600-534: The California government in 2022. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and, on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms , such as the Chumash , Pomo and Salinan . Trade, intermarriage, craft specialists, and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups. Although nations would sometimes war, most armed conflicts were between groups of men for vengeance . Acquiring territory

5712-443: The California state government paid around 1.5   million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias with the stated purpose of protecting settlers, however these militias perpetrated numerous massacres of indigenous people. Indigenous people were also forcibly moved to reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from

SECTION 50

#1732780228316

5824-406: The Harriet Mundy Marsh and the Palo Alto Flood Basin. The flood basin is bordered by Adobe Creek and Matadero Creek and is maintained a couple feet below sea level in order to serve as a catchment basin in case of flooding in lower Palo Alto. At the northwest edge the Baylands extend past San Francisquito Creek , although the creek used to flow into the Bay at the site of the former Yacht Club. In

5936-680: The San Felipe Ranch for the Isabel and San Antonio Valleys, as well as an area near Lake Del Valle in Alameda County may now be extirpated by poaching, highway vehicle collisions, and insufficient numbers to defend pronghorn fawns against coyote predation. As of 2012, the Isabel Valley Ranch herd had dwindled to 3 animals, and the Lake del Valle herd to 13. Currently, iNaturalist.org has zero observer records of pronghorn in Santa Clara County. The Nature Conservancy "Mount Hamilton Project" has acquired or put under conservation easement 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of land towards its 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) goal for habitat conservation within

6048-494: The San Francisco Bay Area. Due to the hiring opportunities California offered during the conflict, the population multiplied from the immigration it received due to the work in its war factories, military bases, and training facilities. After World War II, California's economy expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War . Stanford University began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay instead of leaving

6160-434: The U.S. Army. In the 20th century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to California. The state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act , excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps; in 2020, California apologized. Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of transcontinental highways like

6272-454: The Union . However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the "California 100 Company" , were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California. At

6384-475: The Wild . The first major technology company to be based in the area was Hewlett-Packard , founded in a garage in Palo Alto in 1939. IBM selected San Jose as its West Coast headquarters in 1943. Varian Associates , Fairchild Semiconductor , and other early innovators were in the county by the late 1940s and 1950s. The U.S. Navy had a large presence in the area and began giving large contracts to Silicon Valley electronics companies. The term " Silicon Valley "

6496-573: The airport's busiest routes are all to cities in the western United States. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is also often used for commercial services by residents of Santa Clara County. Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), a former U.S. Naval Air Station , is used by the Air National Guard , NASA , Lockheed Martin , Google , and by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department as an air operations base. There are also smaller general aviation airports in Palo Alto (PAO) , San Jose (Reid-Hillview) (RHV) , and San Martin(E16) Santa Clara County

6608-401: The average family size was 3.41. In the county, the age distribution was 24.7% under 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.80 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 101.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 74,335, and for a family

6720-454: The best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become

6832-464: The best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. At

SECTION 60

#1732780228316

6944-421: The conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California. Following

7056-449: The country, despite extreme land prices. The surge in metro GDP is highly correlated with home prices, which for average single-family homes passed $ 1 million ($ 1,017,528) in August 2013. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median value of homes in Santa Clara County was $ 1,253,400, an increase of 11.9% from the prior year, and ranking fourth in the US for highest median home value. School districts include: Santa Clara County Library

7168-446: The county's water security . As of 2020, it has a median household income of $ 130,890, the third-highest household income of any county in the nation behind Loudoun County, Virginia and Falls Church, Virginia , and the highest of any county in the Western United States . Santa Clara County is named for Mission Santa Clara , which was established in 1777, and was in turn named for Saint Clare of Assisi . Santa Clara County

7280-535: The deadliest in U.S. history. Although air pollution has been reduced, health problems associated with pollution continue. Brown haze known as " smog " has been substantially abated after federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust. An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts , soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism. Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase;

7392-407: The department to choose the Mount Hamilton area as one of California's relocation sites under a new statewide effort to restore tule elk. While other ranchers refused, tech pioneers Bill Hewlett and David Packard allowed Coletto and state biologists to translocate the initial 32 tule elk from the Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra onto the 28,000-acre (11,000 ha) San Felipe Ranch , which

7504-404: The elk horns as four varas [11 feet (3.4 m)] across... "These animals [elk] are called ciervos in order to differentiate them from the ordinary Spanish variety of deer, here called venados , which also exist in abundance and of large size in the vicinity." Regarding pronghorn, Moraga reported: "In the said plains of San Bernardino (Santa Clara Valley)…there is another species of deer about

7616-722: The families jointly own, in the hills east of Morgan Hill . From the three original 1978–1981 translocations (totaling 65 animals) to the Mount Hamilton region of the Diablo Range , there are multiple herds in different locations including the Isabel Valley, San Antonio Valley , Livermore area, San Felipe Ranch, Metcalf Canyon, Coyote Ridge , Anderson Lake , and surrounding areas such as the Sunol and Cottonwood Creek (near San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County, California ) herds. As of 2012 , an estimated 400 tule elk roam 1,875 square kilometres (724 sq mi) in northeastern Santa Clara County and southeastern Alameda County . In March 2014 CDFW translocated nine bull elk from

7728-428: The first governmental entities in the world to sue for same-sex marriage. The following table includes the number of incidents reported in 2009 and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. Law Enforcement in Santa Clara County is handled by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and local police departments. The county's economy is heavily services-based. Technology, both hardware and software, dominates

7840-520: The government to adequately sustain the populations living on them. As a result, settler colonialism was a calamity for indigenous people. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo , have described the actions of the California government as a genocide , as well as the 40th governor of California Gavin Newsom . Benjamin Madley estimates that from 1846 to 1873, between 9,492 and 16,092 indigenous people were killed, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by

7952-461: The great plain called San Bernardino (the Santa Clara Valley which stretches from south San Jose to Gilroy ), while the expedition was strung out at length, we descried in the distance a herd of large animals that looked like cattle, but we could not imagine where they belonged or from whence they had come...with horns similar in shape to those of the deer, but so large that they measured sixteen palms from tip to tip." Upon measurement, Morago reported

8064-573: The highest number of Superfund Sites of any county in the United States, accounting for 25 polluted locations requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. As of 2019 , Santa Clara County has 23 active Superfund Sites, still more than any other county in the United States. The vast majority of these Superfund sites were caused by firms associated with the high tech sector in Silicon Valley . Census demographics data released in 2019 show Asian Americans have had

8176-459: The highest output of any U.S. state, and is led by its dairy , almonds , and grapes . With the busiest port in the country ( Los Angeles ), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of goods imported to the US. Notable contributions to popular culture , ranging from entertainment , sports , music , and fashion , have their origins in California. California

8288-410: The indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including forest gardening to ensure the regular availability of food and medicinal plants . This was a form of sustainable agriculture . To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of controlled burning . This practice was recognized for its benefits by

8400-572: The interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga , a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River . After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga , would found

8512-531: The largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history was announced for the Klamath River , as a win for California tribes. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km ), California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas . California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California , comprising

8624-506: The late 1920s levees were constructed to re-route San Francisquito Creek away from its former mouth, to a sharp north turn for about half a mile, then to the northeast, before exiting to the Bay. Dredging of the former Yacht Club produced landfill for the filling of marshlands to construct the Palo Alto Airport and Municipal Golf Course. By 2004, filled areas such as the Palo Alto golf course and

8736-437: The metro area reached $ 176.7 billion in 2011, or $ 94,587 per capita, roughly on par with Qatar in both total GDP and per capita (nominal). GDP grew a strong 7.7% in 2011, and in contrast with most of California, GDP and per capita GDP (nominal) is well above 2007 (financial crisis) levels. Despite relative wealth vis a vis other regions nationally, a large underclass exists whose income is roughly equivalent to that elsewhere in

8848-844: The middle of the state lies the California Central Valley , bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland. Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta , the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as

8960-484: The official US census) calculates a religious diversity score of 0.876 for Santa Clara County, where 1 represents complete diversity (each religious group of equal size) and 0 a total lack of diversity. Only four counties in the US have higher diversity scores than Santa Clara County. Santa Clara County has five elected supervisors , elected within their districts. The board appoints the County Executive, who

9072-594: The plurality of Santa Clara's population since 2014. As of 2013, Santa Clara County has the highest median household income of any county in California at $ 84,741. The 2010 United States census reported that Santa Clara County had a population of 1,781,642. The racial makeup of Santa Clara County was 836,616 (47.0%) White, 46,428 (2.6%) African American, 12,960 (0.7%) Native American, 7,060 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 570,524 (32.0%) Asian, 220,806 (12.4%) from other races, and 87,248 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 479,210 persons (26.9% of

9184-414: The population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000. The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin . In 1849,

9296-410: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 565,863 households, 34.9% had children under 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.1% were not families. About 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.92, and

9408-496: The population). Demographic profile As of the census of 2000, 1,682,585 people, 565,863 households, and 395,538 families were residing in the county. The population density was 503/km (1,300/sq mi). The 579,329 housing units had an average density of 173/km (450/sq mi). The ethnic makeup of the county was 53.8% White, 2.8% African American, 0.7% Native American, 25.6% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 12.1% from other races, and 4.7% from two or more races. About 24.0% of

9520-733: The pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California. During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast . Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and

9632-469: The races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert." As in other American states, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their lands by American settlers , like miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as

9744-403: The region known as California , or Las Californias , grew. Eventually it included lands north of the peninsula, Alta California , part of which became the present-day U.S. state of California. A 2017 state legislative document states, "Numerous theories exist as to the origin and meaning of the word 'California, ' " and that all anyone knows is the name was added to a map by 1541 "presumably by

9856-476: The service sector by value, but like any other county, Santa Clara has its share of retail and office support workers. The San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara metropolitan region, comprising Santa Clara County and San Benito County, was ranked as the highest performing metropolitan area in the US in 2012, ahead of Austin, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina , according to the Milken Institute . The GDP of

9968-496: The size of three-year-old sheep. They are similar in appearance to the deer, except they have short horns and also short legs like the sheep. They live in the plains where they go in herds of 100, 200, or more. They run all together over the plains so fast that they seem to fly…These animals are called berrendos and there are many of them also in the southern Missions wherever the country is level." Herbert Eugene Bolton also wrote of elk reports from another Spanish expedition, from

10080-617: The south and west of the county. Both tule elk ( Cervus canadensis nannodes ) and pronghorn ( Antilocapra americana ) were historically native to Santa Clara County. In June 1776, Lieutenant Commander Don José Joaquín Moraga led a group of soldiers and colonists from the Presidio of Monterey to establish Mission San Francisco de Asis and encountered both tule elk and pronghorn, and clearly distinguished these two species from deer. The deer in California being California mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ). Regarding elk, Moraga wrote: "In

10192-654: The state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act . Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which

10304-574: The state on March 4, 2020, and remained in effect until Governor Gavin Newsom ended it in February 2023. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, which was ended in January 2021. Cultural and language revitalization efforts among indigenous Californians have progressed among tribes as of 2022. Some land returns to indigenous stewardship have occurred. In 2022,

10416-430: The state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains . Droughts and wildfires are an ongoing issue. California's economy is the largest of any U.S. state, with a $ 4.0 trillion gross state product as of 2024 . It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. California's agricultural industry has

10528-515: The state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California gold rush . By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870,

10640-522: The state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., Califas , and US-CA . California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups , inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. Living in these diverse geographic areas,

10752-620: The state, and develop a high-tech region, now known as Silicon Valley . As a result of this, California is a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the US center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust , California had the fifth-largest economy in the world. In the mid and late twentieth century, race-related incidents occurred. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to riots, such as

10864-511: The ten southernmost counties, and Northern California , comprising the 48 northernmost counties. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America , alongside Baja California Sur ). In

10976-407: The time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state

11088-570: The transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent Mexican rule. In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions , which controlled most of

11200-539: The world as of 2015 behind Zürich and Oslo , according to the Brookings Institution . Located on the southern coast of San Francisco Bay , the urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County contains most of the county's population. More recently, extensive droughts in California , further complicated by drainage of the Anderson reservoir within the county for seismic repairs, have strained

11312-524: Was $ 81,717. Males had a median income of $ 56,240 versus $ 40,574 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 32,795. About 4.9% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line , including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over. Santa Clara County is among the most religiously diverse counties in the US. A 2020 census by the Public Religion Research Institute (unconnected to

11424-544: Was abandoned by 1841. During the War of Mexican Independence , Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain , which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited local trade prospects. Following Mexican independence, California ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over

11536-492: Was coined in 1971. The trend accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s, and agriculture has since been nearly eliminated from the northern part of the county. Santa Clara County is the headquarters for about 6500 high-technology companies, including many of the world's largest such companies, including AMD , Nvidia , Cisco Systems , and Intel , computer and consumer electronics companies Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard, and internet companies eBay , Google , and Yahoo! . Most of what

11648-611: Was completed in 1992, utilizing a $ 1,000,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy to enhance the salt marsh portion of wetlands with bay water, and creating a new 15-acre fresh water pond. The freshwater pond uses pumped reclaimed water from the nearby Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant and was named for former City Councilmember Emily Renzel for her tireless work over 20 years to preserve and protect Palo Alto's Baylands. The Baylands are home to numerous species of plants and animals including

11760-542: Was dedicated on October 23, 1982, honoring Harriet Mundy who circulated a petition which resulted in the City Council stopping development of a $ 30 million private proposal to develop the Palo Alto Baylands for commercial and industrial use. The Byxbee Park Hills area of Baylands was named for John Fletcher Byxbee Jr., Palo Alto City Engineer from 1906 to 1941. The Emily Renzel Wetlands restoration project

11872-552: Was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to

11984-607: Was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham . In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to

12096-714: Was not usually the purpose of these small-scale battles. Men and women generally had different roles in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as joyas , who they saw as "men who dressed as women". Joyas were responsible for death , burial , and mourning rituals , and they performed women's social roles. Indigenous societies had terms such as two-spirit to refer to them. The Chumash referred to them as 'aqi. The early Spanish settlers detested and sought to eliminate them. The first Europeans to explore

12208-666: Was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire . The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence , but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War . The California gold rush started in 1848 and led to social and demographic changes, including depopulation of Indigenous tribes. The western portion of Alta California

12320-529: Was one of the original counties of California , formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. The original inhabitants included the Ohlone , residing on Coyote Creek and Calaveras Creek . Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County in 1853. In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad within county boundaries. The result was

12432-502: Was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California , with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of

12544-399: Was then organized and admitted as the 31st state in 1850 , as a free state , following the Compromise of 1850 . The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions , with 19 million and 10 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most ; California's capital

#315684