San Mateo County

Prior to the Spanish conquest, in what is now the City of San Mateo, the Ohlone had a seasonal settlement where El Camino Real intersects with Laurel Creek (see the Native American Occupation - Ohlone section). In 1776, a Spanish expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza set up camp where the City is now situated and at that time, San Mateo Creek was named (see the Spanish Colonization section). Although no missions were located within San Mateo County, missionaries from the San Francisco Mission built a farming outpost in 1793. The outpost was established to help bring Christianity to the Natives and to produce livestock, grains, and vegetables to supplement the food supply for the San Francisco Mission and presidio. The outpost was situated in the present-day City of San Mateo where Saint Mathew's Church is now located on El Camino Real.

California became a state in 1850 (see the California Statehood section). At that time, San Mateo County was a part of San Francisco County. Political corruption was rampant in the city, however, and efforts to oust the corrupt politicians in city government simply resulted in their reappearance in county government. In an effort to solve this problem, it was decided to make the City of San Francisco and the County of San Francisco the same entity with the same boundaries. Thus, in 1856, San Mateo Bayside became a county. The first voting was established in haste and allowed the "roughs" who had been driven from San Francisco to take control of the San Mateo County government. Ballot boxes were stuffed and voters were intimidated, leaving the county largely in the hands of corrupt politicians, but some honest men were also elected. Violence erupted and the gang members were exposed and forced to leave. In new elections, more law-abiding officials were elected, although San Mateo remained a place for activities banned in San Francisco well into the 20th Century (Postel 1988; Stanger 1963).

San Mateo County includes 17 incorporated cities, most of them on the Bayside.

The creation of San Mateo County had very far-reaching implications for both San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. San Mateo now controlled the water supply and the cemeteries for both counties and later on, would house the regional airport. San Francisco now had very finite limits on its ability to expand geographically and in terms of its tax base. San Mateo remained sparsely settled, rural and slow growing. It developed a reputation as a place to get away with illegal activities that were outlawed in San Francisco such as dueling, dog racing, horse racing, prize fighting, and in the 1920s, production of alcohol (Postel 1988). In 1868, the Oceanside was annexed in to the County. Separated by the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Bayside and the Oceanside developed along different paths.

Bayside San Mateo County

Nineteenth Century

In the 1850s and 1860s, activity on the north end of the county near San Francisco centered on trading, gambling, and drinking alcohol, especially after 1856 because there was less law enforcement in San Mateo than in San Francisco. Drinking establishments dominated the businesses until Prohibition; from 1890 through the early 1900s, about 30 percent of the businesses were saloons (Postel 1988). By 1900, the county had attracted several activities that San Francisco had outlawed or did not have space for, such as dog tracks and boxing.

In the 1850s, agriculture began to increase in the northern part of San Mateo County. Irish and then Italian farmers immigrated to the area and the first dairy was established in the north end of the county in 1853. Cemeteries were another local business. Since San Francisco had no land to spare, San Mateo County became the place to bury the dead. East of the cemeteries, industry developed. Meat packing began in South San Francisco in 1892, followed by paint and steel production.

In 1851, a deep-water channel running inland from the bay was discovered near what is now Redwood City (Redwood City Public Library 2003). Timber harvested from the mountains to the west was shipped through the port to San Francisco. A shipbuilding industry thrived at the port until the late 1880s. Other industry supported by the proximity to the port grew, in particular agricultural products, shingle production, and livestock. Building the wharves and the subsequent development of the town caused sedimentation that required dredging in 1896 (Redwood City Public Library 2003).

With the advent of the gold rush, demand for lumber increased to supply the rapidly growing city of San Francisco. Lumber was also in demand to rebuild after the devastating fires in the 1850s (Postel 1988). By 1853, a logging boom was occurring with at least ten mills producing more than 70,000 feet per day from Portola Valley to Bear Gulch (above Woodside) (Stanger 1963). Squatters were living in houses and tents along Redwood Slough where timber from the mountains was processed to be shipped out through the bay (Postel 1988; Hynding 1982). A village that would later become Woodside emerged. Other new settlers squatted around Menlo Park and at Ravenswood (today's East Palo Alto). Settlers throughout California began to challenge the Mexican land grants because the rancho lands were largely unused. The rancheros were at a disadvantage because it was a lengthy process to protect their claim in American courts, and in the meantime settlers claimed the land by occupying it. Additionally, the wealth of the rancheros was tied up in their land. In order to pay legal fees, they often had to pay with portions of land they were trying to save for themselves (Postel 1988).

Timber prices remained high due to demand during the 1850s and '60s. At the height of the logging boom, at least 50 mills were operating; in the summer, because the streams dried up, steam driven mills were used. In about 20 years, most of the County's harvestable stands of redwoods had been harvested. Surprisingly, most logging ventures went bankrupt within their first year and profit margins were thin even for squatters on government land (Postel 1988). In addition to low profits, loggers had to contend with fire, flash floods, boiler explosions, tree falls, accidents with machinery and even occasional grizzly bear attacks. Demand for San Mateo lumber peaked in the 1860s as the hub for logging on the West Coast moved north into the Pacific Northwest. The population of the Woodside area decreased as the logging industry declined. By the 1870s, most of the accessible stands of redwood on the bayside were exhausted and local logging moved to the Oceanside (Postel 1988).

Redwood City was initially a logging outpost with a rough character typical of western towns, but in the 1860s, its character began to change to become more family oriented and law-abiding. It was selected as the County Seat in 1856 because it was the only bayside town in those early years. As the logging industry declined in the south part of Bayside San Mateo, there was an increase in agriculture. In 1867, Redwood City was the first municipality to incorporate (Stanger 1963).

The railway from San Francisco to San Jose was completed in 1864 and it had profound effects on San Mateo County. With the establishment of the railway, San Francisco was now only 37 minutes from what would later become the City of San Mateo. The community of San Mateo was halfway between San Francisco and San Jose and at the end of the road from Half Moon Bay and so was in the perfect location to become a suburb (Postel 1988). Businesses became established in the Main Street and Railroad Avenue area in the start of what is now downtown San Mateo. Wealthy San Franciscans set up summer and weekend homes in the area by buying large portions of the two former ranchos that had encompassed the area. The area started to attract immigrants and develop an infrastructure. Much of the resulting population was made up of people employed to serve the wealthy landowners. Churches and schools were built and in 1889, the first fire department and newspaper were established (San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce 2003). Despite this development, the growth of San Mateo County was stunted in part due to railroad barons and other wealthy elite buying huge chunks of land for estates. By buying the most accessible lands, they may have prevented others from relocating to San Mateo County during the late 1800s (Postel 1988).

The valleys in the center of San Mateo County were ideal for the creation of reservoirs. In 1858, the Spring Valley Water Company incorporated to create reservoirs in San Mateo County as a resource for San Francisco, which did not have an adequate water supply for its rapidly growing population. Herman Schussler engineered a series of dams to provide drinking water for San Francisco and San Mateo County residents (Postel 1988). When they were built, the dams flooded existing farms, roads, and resort communities in the center of the county, and substantially modified in-stream habitats on the dammed tributaries. The water company enlisted the courts to remove the people living there and the judges ruled in favor of the water company. To provide the peninsula with water, five dams and five lakes were created between the mid-1860s and 1890.

A substantial maritime industry based on oyster and shrimp harvest developed in the bay during the nineteenth century. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1872 it made the transport of living oysters possible and eastern oysters were seeded in the bay. They were considered more palatable than the small native oysters. Completion of the transcontinental railroad released Chinese laborers who had been working on the railroad. These men returned to the industry they had known in China, which was fishing. Discriminatory laws prevented them from netting most catches desired by Caucasian Americans, so they turned to shrimping. China Camps – encampments in which Chinese shrimpers lived – sprung up around the San Francisco Bay. The first in San Mateo County was established in 1869 near Redwood City.

Twentieth Century

As the 19th Century ended, northern San Mateo County retained its racy reputation with the construction of Tanforan, a horse racing track in 1899 that was converted to an auto-racing track in 1903. In 1908, interest declined due to laws against gambling, but in 1933, pari-mutuel betting was legalized and the track remained successful until the outbreak of World War II. Most San Franciscans saw San Mateo County as an amusement park, a source of farm and dairy products, and a place to bury their dead. It was not until the Great Earthquake of 1906 that people began to move in large numbers to northern San Mateo County. South San Francisco incorporated as a town in 1908, Daly City incorporated as a city in 1911, and the residential community of San Bruno incorporated in 1914. The City of San Mateo became respected as a clean suburban town and played to that image, closing all saloons in the town in 1918, two years prior to Congress enacting Prohibition (Postel 1988).

Francis Newlands planned Burlingame as a community in 1892. He was trying to attract wealthy elites to San Mateo County by first building a country club. At that time, it was popular to emulate English gentry and the idea was a success. Newlands built a train station to provide transport to the country club and associated estates and a community developed around the train station to serve the needs of the estate owners. The population increased between 1906 and 1914, in part due to the earthquake of 1906 and the name recognition of the area. The town around the train station incorporated as the City of Burlingame in 1908 due to fears that the City of San Mateo would annex it. The Country Club property was not within Burlingame city limits and estate owners, fearing that they would be annexed, incorporated as the Town of Hillsborough in 1910.

The dams that had been constructed in the late 19th century were no longer adequate to supply the City of San Francisco with drinking water, so in order to ensure an adequate water supply, Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913. The Act created the Hetch Hetchy dam in the Sierra Nevada. Water from the dam was transported by pipeline from the Sierra to the San Mateo County reservoirs. San Francisco bought the land owned by the Spring Valley Water Company in 1930, so the San Francisco Water Department now owned the reservoirs and the surrounding lands, ensuring that the center of the county would be kept free from development.

By the early 1900s, pollution had weakened the shrimp and oyster industries in the bay. The State of California negatively affected the shrimping industry in 1911 when it passed a law banning the nets used by Chinese shrimpers. In 1909, the bay was dredged for a second time to remove sediment that was filling in the shipping channel (Redwood City Public Library 2003). At this time, it was recognized that the calcareous sediment from centuries of oyster colonization was ideal for making cement mix. In 1923, the Morgan Oyster Company sold its land holdings in the bay to the Pacific Portland Cement Company (Postel 1988). The cement industry is still a vital force in the bay. The salt production industry developed as the shrimp and oyster harvesting industries declined. The use of wetlands for salt production led to habitat loss and degradation in much of the San Francisco Bay. Salt production is still present in the bay – individuals arriving by air see the brilliantly colored checkerboard pattern of salt ponds during the approach to the San Francisco airport – but is not as important as it was in the early 20th century (Postel 1988). In 1998, Cargill, an agricultural company, agreed to sell 16,500 acres of its Bay salt ponds to a partnership of federal, state, and private entities.

From 1920 to the 1940s, the production and use of the automobile increased the population throughout the Bay area. When World War II broke out, San Mateo County became an important logistical arena and so was in the midst of the national effort. Industrial and transport facilities were improved or created, resulting in many new jobs. These job opportunities resulted in the first influx of large numbers of minorities.

The military built installations at the Tanforan Race Track, Coyote Point, Half Moon Bay, and Montara. Troops traveled through, staying briefly on their way to deployment. Some remembered the beauty of the area and returned to settle down when the war was over. The Federal Government made many significant improvements to the San Francisco Airport, which was located in San Mateo County. It became the most utilized airport in the Pacific Theatre. After the war, it became the largest commercial airport in the region. Other wartime industry such as steel production, electronics, and technical research developed steadily. Stanford and Berkeley evolved into centers for technical research and businesses that supported the booming war effort grew.

After World War II, the population throughout San Mateo County increased as it became a bedroom community for commuters to San Francisco. In 1913, the county residents had voted to create the northern part of the Bayshore Highway and the state matched funds to provide a first-rate roadway. Throughout the years, San Mateo County remained a leader in the Bay Area in improving and maintaining roads (Postel 1988).

Housing developments sprang up throughout the 1950s. Daly City was the most affected, but the entire county experienced steady growth. Foster City was one of the first "planned communities." It was built on former bay lands that had been drained and diked to create a dairy farm in the early 1900s. Although the developers had to contend with issues regarding flooding and infrastructure for the community, Foster City was incorporated in 1971. The plans were considered so innovative that they were placed on display in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1963 (Postel 1988). During the 1950s, population in San Mateo increased by 89 percent; in the 1960s that growth slowed to an increase of 25 percent (Postel 1988).

At this time, the county was confronted with lack of open space and a growing awareness of threats to the environment. Clashes began between developers and environmentalists and these focused largely on bay lands. The problem occurred throughout the Bay Area. In 1947, the State Board of Public Health refused any permits for disposal of untreated waste throughout California, but infractions continued. By 1959, $130 million had been spent on sewer systems in San Mateo County, but it was still listed as on of the worst environmental offenders. In 1963, the San Francisco Quality Control Board threatened to sue San Mateo County. In response, the county joined the South Bay TriCounty Sewage Commission (Postel 1988).

By the 1960s, marshland in the bay was disappearing due to filling for development and the creation of salt ponds for the salt industry. Mobilization by citizens occurred around Brisbane where there were plans to fill the marsh and create a dump for San Francisco. Environmentalists stressed the ecological importance of the Bay and some industrialists sided with them, stressing the economic benefits of tourism and recreation. Other industrialists opposed the environmentalists and favored further development. These controversies led to the creation of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which placed a moratorium on filling (Postel 1988). Space became an issue and renewed attention was focused on the Oceanside. Real estate prices throughout San Mateo County began to increase dramatically.

Oceanside San Mateo County

Nineteenth Century

Along the Coast, the mission lands had been divided into seven ranchos. These ranchos were less desirable than the bayside ranchos because there was less access for traders, but the land was well suited to raise cattle due to the coastal grasslands the Ohlone had maintained and the flat marine terraces created over geologic time (see the Native American Occupation – Ohlone section). In 1847, a ranchero named Vasquez built the first house in Spanish Town, today's Half Moon Bay. The isolated location between the mountains and the ocean protected Spanish and Mexican rancheros for a while, but American squatters soon found the area and took most of the land from the rancheros simply by squatting (Hynding 1982). The claims process for the original grantees to retain their land was long and involved, and many rancheros did not have the time or money to protect their claim. In 1852, James Johnston brought dairy cattle to the land south of Spanish Town. Between 1849 and 1859, the open range gave way to clusters of farms on both the bay and coastal side, and small towns began to develop to support the farming industry. On the Oceanside, Half Moon Bay had about 500 people by the late 1800s and the south coast towns were also growing (Postel 1988). The two largest creeks on the south coast, San Gregorio and Pescadero, were the sites of towns that bear their names to this day. The towns originally grew around timber harvest, but settlers soon began raising dairy cattle and farming on the fertile hills and marine terraces (Hynding 1982).

The central theme of Oceanside San Mateo County was isolation in terms of trade. This section of the county remained predominantly rural in character throughout most of its history. In 1855, a road was built connecting Half Moon Bay with San Mateo, but this remained the only avenue for commerce. Enterprising individuals attempted to build piers and other loading structures to support ocean-going commerce, but these ventures were not successful for long.

Farming and dairy were the main livelihoods in Oceanside San Mateo County. A large dairy owned by the Steele brothers covered thousands of acres from Pescadero to Año Nuevo. Pescadero grew as the ranch prospered. Stagecoach lines served Pescadero daily, providing transportation to fishermen, hunters, campers, beachgoers, and other vacationers. Pescadero and San Gregorio became tourist destinations.

When San Mateo County incorporated in 1856, the south coast was left as a part of Santa Cruz County. The south coast farmers did not want to haul their crops over the mountains to Santa Cruz and protested their exclusion from the newly formed county. The annexation movement started in 1861, but it was not until 1868 that the State of California acted and made the south coast and a portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains a part of San Mateo County.

In 1864, William Waddell built a 700-foot wharf at Point Año Nuevo to connect his lumber mill with ships. By 1867, the enterprise was producing two million board feet of lumber per year, but it ended in 1875 when Waddell died from a grizzly bear attack (Postel 1988). Another entrepreneur tried to build a chute for grain from the rocky bluff that extended to the decks of anchored ships, but the friction from sliding caused bags of grain to burst into flames and if they did reach the ship deck, they often burst upon impact. Yet another attempt was made at Pigeon Point to lower goods onto ships using a crane and cable system, but the ships were in danger from the rocks during rough seas, so this method was impractical. Another pier was built at Miramar during the late 1800s, but it was not large enough or protected enough to be of practical use (Postel 1988).

Although sport fishermen pursued trout, commercial fishing in Oceanside San Mateo County never amounted to much. In the early 1860s Portuguese immigrants tried whaling, but that industry declined in the 1880s due to over-hunting. A small number of fishermen continued to catch crab, salmon, tuna, and sardines near Pigeon Point, Año Nuevo, and Pillar Point. Fishing never came close to agriculture in economic importance.

Coastal redwood forest prior to timber harvest at the turn of the century. Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As timber resources dwindled in the eastern part of San Mateo County, local logging moved to the mountains and ridges of Oceanside. As in the east, the timbering was mostly accomplished by small enterprises marked by low profits and extreme safety risks. The most heavily logged areas were the watersheds of Purissima, Tunitas, San Gregorio, Pescadero, and Gazos creeks (Hynding 1982). Shingle mills were prevalent among the logging mills. Like the other industry in San Mateo County, timbering was plagued by the lack of adequate shipping outlets to markets in San Francisco and elsewhere. While attempts to use the ocean were meeting mostly with failure, local loggers constructed costly wagon roads over the mountains, but these were slow and the going was difficult.

Twentieth Century

To solve the transportation problems, entrepreneurs in the early 1900s attempted to build a railroad out to the coast to support commerce and enable residential development. The railroad enterprise spurred the biggest spree of property transactions the county had yet seen as railroad agents planned town sites along the coast. The railroad failed, in part due to the terrain, in part due to the unwillingness of investors to support such a risky venture, and in part due to the rebound of the City of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. The railroad had been damaged in the earthquake and was only partially completed. It ceased operations in 1920 (Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce 2001). Some of the towns planned by the railroad agents later became settlements, but most never became anything due to the loss of popular interest in coast side real estate in the early 1900s (Hynding 1982).

Although transportation remained difficult, Prohibition during the 1920s brought a new industry to coastal San Mateo. The Oceanside did a brisk business running alcohol produced in Canada (Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce 2001). The hidden coves and thick fog gave perfect cover for illegal shipping and the profits were high enough to make it worthwhile to attempt the risky landings. Agriculture was still an important part of San Mateo commerce; transport of agricultural products remained an overland enterprise.

The invention and production of automobiles quickened agricultural development. Agriculture became increasingly specialized with a greater emphasis on irrigation in the early 1900s. As the amount of land in production increased, more complex irrigation systems were developed to ensure that crops received sufficient water. Production of artichokes, Brussels sprouts and cut flowers increased as the production of grain, potatoes, and dairy decreased. Flower production gave the best return per acre and thus helped to hold off suburban expansion.

After World War II, large-scale housing development began in the northern-most region of Oceanside San Mateo. The population of the northern area quadrupled in the 20 years following World War II. Half Moon Bay was the furthest south community that experienced this growth, but at a much slower rate than the northern coast. Lack of major roadways, municipal water sources, and sewer systems continued to make Oceanside San Mateo a less desirable location for large population centers. Today, with the exception of the northernmost cities, the region remains largely rural and agricultural.

References

Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce. 2001. Coastside History [web page]. Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce [cited November 17, 2003]. View on-line source.

Hynding, A. 1982. From Frontier to Suburb: The Story of the San Mateo Peninsula. Belmont, CA: Star Publishing Company.

Postel, M.P. 1988. Peninsula Portrait, A Pictorial History of San Mateo County. Northridge, CA: Windsor Publications, Inc.

Redwood City Public Library. 2003. History of the Port of Redwood City [Web page] [cited November 17, 2003]. View on-line source.

San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce. 2001. History of San Mateo [Web site] [cited November 14, 2003]. View on-line source.

Stanger, F.M. 1963. South from San Francisco, San Mateo County, California: Its History and Heritage. San Mateo, CA: San Mateo County Historical Association.

General References

City of San Mateo. 2003. An Early History of San Mateo: From Inhabitants to Incorporation [Web page] [cited November 12, 2003]. View on-line source.

Hill, A. 2004. China Camp Overview [Web page]. Get Outside! The Bay Area Naturally [cited January 30, 2004]. View on-line source.

Richards, G. 1973. Crossroads: People and Events of the Redwoods of San Mateo County. Woodside, CA: Gilbert Richards Publications.

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