Love Creek
Love Creek is a creek in California. It starts around 1,000 feet above sea level, flows southward through the town of Ben Lomond, California in Santa Cruz County, California, and enters the San Lorenzo River south of Ben Lomond. It is actually on the higher ground side of the business district, which makes the possibility of flooding serious.
The Valley Churches United Missions is located next to Love Creek near Highway 9. The building has sand and bags available for flood control.
History
Love Creek is remembered because of the landslide in 1982. Quoted from, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey USGS Premiers Documentary Film on "Landslide Danger in the Bay Area" 2/20/2007: "In January 1982 a single, catastrophic rainstorm triggered 18,000 landslides throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The most destructive of these landslides was in the Love Creek area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, where a 1000-foot slab of heavily wooded hill slope crashed down without warning on sleeping residents of Love Creek Heights. Ten of the Love Creek residents were buried by the slide." Quoted from a report on landslides by the USGS: " The slide occurred on the west-facing slope of Love Creek, about 16 km (10 miles) north of the city of Santa Cruz. It was about 600m wide(1968.5ft), 250m long(820.2ft), and 10m(32.8ft) thick, with a volume of about 500,000 cubic meters(17.6 million cubic feet). The slide and an accompanying debris flow dammed Love Creek, forming a lake about 300 meters long(984.2ft) that flooded several homes."
Naming
Love Creek gets the name from Captain Harry Love who, in 1853, was in charge of the California Rangers to track down the bandit Joaquin Murieta (some spell it Murrieta). He later moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains and built a sawmill on a stream this stream that was later named for him.
Business
Love Creek is on the west side of the business district of Ben Lomond, along Highway 9.
Transportation
Santa Cruz Metro Transit Bus Route 33 and Bus Route 35 go to Ben Lomond near Love Creek.
Map
Love Creek can be found on the following USGS map:
| Feature Name | County | State | Latitude | Longitude | Elevation(ft) | Map | Entry Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love Creek | Santa Cruz | CA | 370518N | 1220515W | 295 | Felton | 19-JAN-81 |