This is the story of a creek -- Mission Creek in Santa Barbara -- told in pictures. Mostly. Mission Creek (once called Pedregosa - "Stony" - Creek) runs through a storied landscape from the Santa Ynez Mountains down to the Santa Barbara Harbor. On the way it passes through the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, Rocky Nook Park, the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, and the Santa Barbara Mission, before winding through residential neighborhoods and alongside Interstate 101 and diving under State Street and Cabrillo Boulevard, emerging into the surf just south of Stearns Wharf. Or is that East? -- the Santa Barbara shoreline runs roughly horizontally East-West for much of its stretch.
This, however, is not the end of the story. After pooling out into a muddy lagoon at the shoreline, Mission Creek backs up into town again for a few blocks due north, ending at the freeway. In earlier days, this area was called El Estero, the estuary.
In the 1877 "bird's eye" view of Santa Barbara one can trace the course of the creek as it approaches the sea at Stearns Wharf and then veers inland again. With no freeway to block it, the stream continues out through the lowlands until it nears the hills.
Various structures, mostly of stone, were built on and around the creek in the early 19th century, providing access for pedestrians and also harnessing the power and resources of the waterway. Creek waters were squeezed into aqueducts and pipes to serve human needs. The bulk of this work was carried out by Native Americans, members of the Chumash tribe, in service to the Franciscan padres during the Mission Period of California history. While people like to shy away from the word "slavery," to describe this system, we can at least label it peonage, a form of forced labor. More than that, the Indians who served the Mission fathers were forced to live in close proximity to the Mission and under strict rules and restrictions, defiance of which could result in corporal punishment. Some have called the system penal servitude.
Later, in the mid-20th century, parts of the creek were channelized and armored to prevent flooding. Today new efforts at flood control, habitat restoration, and beautification are being carried out in the lower reaches of the creek.
We'll take a look at the creek and some of the historic sites associated with it. All photos are by the author unless otherwise indicated.
Upstream
A walk through the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden provides a close-up look at remnants of the old Mission water system built two hundred years ago.
With apologies to the folks at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, a section of their plaque on the Mission water systems.
A remnant of the old wooden aqueduct as seen from the pedestrian bridge.
The Lassiter Boulder, as indicated by the plaque, commemorates a career army man who retired to Santa Barbara and served on the board of the Botanic Garden. Major General William Lassiter died in 1959 and is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
Modern walkway over the creek.
Pools of water in the creek.
More remnants of the old wooden aqueduct.
Artistic seating area.
This filter box at the Botanic Garden and another adjacent to the reservoirs near the Mission grounds used charcoal and sandstone to filter impurities and sediments from the creek water.
The filter box.
Twisted oak creekside.
Natural History
Below the Botanic Garden, Mission Creek flows across the grounds of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, providing an idyllic opportunity for educating visitors about stream ecology. Colorful plaques, including the one below, can be found throughout the museum grounds.
Mission Creek has historically been home to a run of Steelhead Trout. Unfortunately, there has been no sign of the anadromous fish in recent years. Stream restoration efforts aim to bring back the species.
Masonry rock walls contain the creek through the museum grounds.
The Mills of God
A plaque adjacent to the lower reservoir details the workshops and water-powered mechanisms at the Mission, now abandoned: an aqueduct, grist mill, two reservoirs, a filter house, a pottery, tanning vats, and the lavado or lavanderia (laundry basin).
A shady path runs along the grist mill, upper and lower reservoirs. Waters from the Rattlesnake Canyon Aqueduct, which ran roughly parallel to Mission Creek, were diverted to power the mill wheel which ground wheat into flour for the Mission's bake ovens. Meanwhile, Mission Creek waters were passed through a second filter box to the Lower Reservoir for use by the local populace.
The grist mill stood between the upper and lower reservoirs. Creek water powered the water wheel which turned the millstone to grind grain into coarse flour. The sign indicates the mill was constructed in 1827, though sources vary.
A view inside the upper reservoir, January 2020.
Views of the upper reservoir, January 2020.
The lower reservoir was built in 1806 or so....January 2020.
The Lower Reservoir, now capped, was used for a time by the Santa Barbara Public Works Department for water storage. In 1993, it was retired. January 2020
Stony remains of aqueducts can be seen adjacent to the reservoir and across the street along the sidewalk flanking the Mission's cemetery, January 2020.
The lavandería is a striking landmark on the grounds in front of the Mission proper. Waters from Mission Creek supplied the trough and the adjacent fountain, as well as nearby gardens and orchards. January 2020
A historic image of the mission and lavado (or lavandería), circa 1885. Courtesy Gledhill (W. Edwin) Glass Plate Collection. Gledhill Library, Santa Barbara Historical Museum, 1965.232.113.
The inscription attached to the lavandería tells us that it was built by Chumash workers in 1808 and calls our attention to the original mountain lion head spout and the bear carving (a replica of the original).
A plaque at the Presidio historic site in downtown Santa Barbara indicates that an aqueduct from the creek diverted water to the pueblos garrison over a distance of one and half miles. The exact route of this aqueduct is unknown. James G. Mills, writing for the summer 1995 issue of La Campana, the journal of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, speculated that the watercourse must have come from Mission Creek (then Pedregosa Creek) near the Mission grounds, the closest upland point where creek waters could be accessed. If the 1783 date is correct, the Presidio aqueduct preceded construction of the Mission itself and its accompanying waterworks. Photo above taken November 2021
The Middle Stretch
As Mission Creek trickles into the more populated sections of the city, it meanders through residential neighborhoods and along the freeway on its way to the sea. When the highway (State Route 1) was built in 1934, parts of the creek were channelized by lining with concrete to prevent flooding.
The creek arrives at De La Vina Street and Vernon Road from the east and begins to turn south toward the freeway. The picture is taken adjacent to Handlebar Coffee Roasters, November 2021.
A number of wooden bridges have been built over the creek bed in the residential areas of town.
Bridge over the creek on West Islay Street, between Castillo and the freeway, November 2021
No water is seen from the Islay bridge, November 2021.
The creek bed with rock retaining walls at West Pedregosa Street, November 2021
Concrete armoring of the creek adjacent to the Mission Street freeway underpass, likely the original channelization efforts completed in the 1930s. Fallen tree limbs dam up most of the water squeezed through the concrete channel, November 2021
The Lower Reaches
A new concrete bridge has been recently completed at Hayley Street and De La Vina, November 2021.
An ornate storm grate adjacent to Mission Creek as it passes under Haley Street, November 2021.
The stream bed choked with vegetation at Hayley and De La Vina, November 2021.
Riparian images etched into the sidewalk of the new bridge at Haley and De La Vina, November 2021.
After paralleling the freeway and running through neighborhoods and culverts, the creek emerges at the ocean front, widening out into a man-made lagoon which makes a pleasant addition to upscale condos and hotels before squeezing under State Street and Cabrillo Boulevard. This photo and the one below were taken in January 2020.
Controlling the Flow
Looking down at the creek at many times of the year, one might wonder, as did a passerby "Why do they need to fix up a creek that never has water in it?"
In fact, flooding has long been a problem in Mission Creek as it passes through prime real estate on the way to the sea. Several catastrophic flood events have occurred in just the last couple of decades. Visitors might do well to heed the words of the song:
Seems it never rains in southern California Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours(Albert Hammond/Mike Hazlewood)
In earlier times, the creek backed up into a large saltwater lagoon off Cabrillo Boulevard, which, taken at the flood, might reach as far north as Anapamu Street. Flood control measures have faced decades of controversy between city planners, the Army Corps of Engineers, environmentalists, and local residents and business owners on all sides of the debate over money and methods. A major project to rebuild bridges and armor the banks of the stream has been underway for some time. However, in 2017 winter storms brought the creek up to flood levels and wiped out a good share of the new construction.
New flood control measures underway, November 2021. A much different scene than that above, taken two years earlier.
The Creek meets the Sea
Once it reaches the sea, just east of Stearns Wharf, Mission Creek pools out into a silty lagoon. Oddly, creek waters (if any) do a U-turn at this point and back up into the town as far as the freeway. Photo taken in January 2020.
The lagoon at the mouth of the creek. The apparatus pictured is used to distribute dredged sand to other parts of the beach. Photo taken January 2020.
Route of Mission Creek courtesy of Google Maps.
