Matadero Creek

Matadero Creek
Arroyo del Matadero,^[1] Crosby's Creek, Madera Creek^[2]^[3]^[4]
Matadero Creek; Arroyo del Matadero, Crosby's Creek, Madera Creek
	Beaver recently recolonized Matadero Creek in the Palo Alto Baylands. Courtesy Bill Leikam September 2022
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Santa Clara County
Physical characteristics
Source	Foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains
• location	Los Altos Hills, California
• coordinates	37°22′01″N 122°09′04″W / 37.36694°N 122.15111°W
• elevation	640 ft (200 m)
Mouth	Palo Alto Flood Basin, then Mayfield Slough, then southwest San Francisco Bay
• location	Palo Alto, California
• coordinates	37°25′27″N 122°08′01″W / 37.42417°N 122.13361°W
• elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Arastradero Creek, Santa Rita Creek via the "Stanford Channel"
• right	Deer Creek

Matadero Creek is a stream originating in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The creek flows in a northeasterly direction for 8 miles (13 km) until it enters the Palo Alto Flood Basin, where it joins Adobe Creek in the Palo Alto Baylands at the north end of the Mayfield Slough, just before its culmination in southwest San Francisco Bay. Matadero Creek begins in the city of Los Altos Hills, then traverses the Stanford University lands and Palo Alto.

^ Durham, David L. (1998). Durham's Place Names of California's San Francisco Bay Area: Includes Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano & Santa Clara counties. Word Dancer Press, Sanger, California. p. 103. ISBN 1-884995-14-4. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
^ "Palo Alto Creeks Topo, 1899". Oakland Museum. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
^ William S. Cooper (January 1926). "Vegetational Development Upon Alluvial Fans in the Vicinity of Palo Alto, California". Ecology. 7 (1): 1–30. doi:10.2307/1929116. JSTOR 1929116.
^ Gudde, Erwin G. (1949). California Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-520-24217-3. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Matadero Creek