Lowermost Pajaro left-bank bench vegetation just downstream from Thurwatcher Bridge
Corralitos Creek above Salsipuedes ~ 1910?
Salsipuedes & Corralitos Junction
Murphys Crossing: view downriver
View upstream – big bend just west of Aromas Important flood storage area
Probably near Aromas ~1915 view upstream
View downstream at Aromas - quarry product spills from railroad r-o-w?
View Downstream over Chittenden - Soda Lake Meander Scars
Future site of Graniterock Wilson Quarry (left) - view downstream
Railroad Bridge at Chittenden with 1906 faulting repairs USGS photo
Upper Pajaro River joining lower San Benito River - view east
Upper Pajaro River (right) joining San Benito River (foreground) View west (downstream)
July 1952
Lower San Benito - pre-mining June, 1939
Hillsdale sand and gravel. View upriver
Bench height 142; river bed 132; berm height December 2000
View upstream Hillsdale quarry. February, 2004
View downstream Hillsdale Quarry
Crossing berm was 13+ ft high in December, 2000
Haul Road berm ~4-10 feet high - view south to San Juan Bautista
Channel isolated in old spoils disposal and mining area
Overview Dec 2000 (A = Abandoned flood plain segments) Hillsdale Quarry site - San Benito River
Gravel skimming and stream-bed mining - view south
Past stream-bed mining site, and present mountain-top removal site for Hillsdale plant. View northwest. Banks 10ft and stable.
View southwest (downstream) moving up into bank cutting areas
Lower Lucy Brown Lane reach. Bed of river here mined about ft below grade. Left bank erodes in floods (~15 ft high)
Lucy Brown lower reach view of right bank ft high
Lower Lucy Brown reach - left bank active bank cutting 20 ft high
Bank cutting and slumping just downstream from Lucy Brown Ln - View downstream
Bank cutting and slumping just downstream from Lucy Brown
Slump along right bank - lower Lucy Brown stream bed mining reach
Upper Lucy Brown Ln reach - operator shut down in 2002 View southwest of left bank 25 ft high
Narrowest point on lower San Benito River - excavated channel
Low berms do not protect closed plant site
Sod Farm site - view west. Floodplains being abandoned but carried floodwater in 1995 and 1998
Small berm protects sod farm from 1-10 yr events - view west
Mitchell Road 1 km wide reach - flow to left
View upstream (south). Hwy 156 bypass; and Hwy 156 commercial (background) with two sewage pond sites in historic floodplain.
New Highway 156 bridge near Mitchell Road reach and lower pond complex protected by berms in floodplain. View north.
USGS gauging site (rt bank) along old Hwy 156, Hollister
Upper Hollister sewage ponds stable channel
Same site of destroyed bridge
Same site in summer when a temporary crossing is built View upstream
Heavy vehicle use in channel - view downstream to Hollister
Union Rd. bridge, view north downstream. Cienega Rd, Hollister
Union Rd. bridge - view upstream. Banks ft high, actively cut.
Ditto - view downstream
Site of Cienega Road house site where 40+ feet of bank 25 ft high was lost in View upstream to Hospital Road seasonal crossing.
Cienega Road house site with two cutting left bank levels
Right bank material may be mining spoils - about 20 ft high
Basal left and right bank alluvium
Old quarry site with berms in the channel just above Hospital Road Seasonal crossing site. Gravel processing site was upper left
Failing banks at site of past river bed mining just downstream from Tres Pinos Creek tributary. View of right bank ~ 20 ft high.
Natural slump (reactivated in 1995) near Tres Pinos Creek - View South
Ditto - this is a source of gravel-sized materials - Left Bank
Tres Pinos Quarry, Tres Pinos Ck. Right bank terrace mining; floodplain disposal
Tres Pinos Creek, view upstream - disposal in floodplain of fine spoils