A Short History of Dimond Canyon and Sausal Creek

Extending from the Montclair hills to Dimond Park near Fruitvale Avenue and Macarthur Boulevard is an expanse of wooded open space called Dimond Canyon. Hundreds of cars drive by the canyon on Park Boulevard every day. Only a few enjoy the wildlife of the canyon at its best, by hiking the trails that run through the woodlands. Some of these trails have been used since people first inhabited these hills. At the head of the canyon, near Highway 13, Cobbledick Creek (which runs along Scout Road) joins Shephard Creek (which runs under Shepherd Canyon Road). On the bay side of the freeway, near the parking lot of the Montclair Golf Course, these creeks join Palo Seco Creek (which runs through Joaquin Miller Park) and unite to form Sausal Creek which runs through the bottom of Dimond Canyon. Huchiun and Jalquin tribes of Ohlone Indians were concentrated in the area surrounding Dimond Canyon. One well-known Indian village was located in Indian Gulch, the area currently called Trestle Glen. Another known village was located on the campus of Holy Names College. Dimond Canyon was between them. The hillsides of the canyon would have been great sites for harvesting acorns, berries, and edible plants, and hunting for birds, fish, and other wildlife. In 1820, the land including Dimond Canyon was granted to Luis Maria Peralta. Peralta owned all the land from El Cerrito to San Leandro, but he chose to place his first home on the flatlands between Peralta and Sausal Creeks. Peralta divided his land among his sons in 1842 giving the San Antonio section including Dimond Canyon and his original home to his son Antonio Maria Peralta. Around 1847, Europeans set up camp in the upper hills of Antonio Peralta's land, and started logging the San Antonio redwood forest. In 1850, the area's first steam sawmill was built at Palo Seco Creek in the head of Dimond Canyon (see photo in The Montclarion February 3, 1998). A logging road high on the side of the Canyon, now Park Boulevard, was used to transport the logs through Dimond Canyon. By 1860, ten years later, the San Antonio forest was logged completely.