Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
sands of Native Americans were converted to the Christian faith, kept
within adobe mission walls, and forced to tend crops rather than hunt and
gather. Many died from European diseases or lost their culture to this
alien way of life.
In addition to building missions, the Spanish set up vast ranchos for
cattle grazing and farming and reworked the landscape to suit their
needs. Creek straightening may have been among their activities. For ex-
ample, the earliest topographic map of Sausal Creek, located near what is
now the Fruitvale BART station, depicts this segment of the stream as
unnaturally arrow-straight and ending prior to entering the estuary.
Aquatic biologist Christopher Richard of the Oakland Museum of Cali-
fornia speculates that the creek was ditched and drained through a con-
nection with the bay to reduce habitat for marauding bears and swarm-
ing mosquitoes.
The Spanish weren't the only foreigners on the scene. Other Europe-
ans soon arrived to hunt, fish, and make the most of the region's natural
riches—beginning a century-long era in which the bay served as an im-
portant collection, processing, and distribution port for the fish, furs,
and other natural products harvested from the watershed and Pacific
coast. Hunters from England, France, Russia, Spain, and America pur-
sued natural riches ranging from bear skins to skunk tails in the bay re-
gion as early as 1800. But it was those mammals with a special relation-
ship with the water that hunters coveted the most: otter, mink, seal,
muskrat, and beaver. These furs—dense and luxurious enough to help a
warm-blooded mammal survive in frigid waters—brought top dollar on
the world market.
Sea Otters were once plen-
tiful in San Francisco Bay,
but hunters attracted by
their valuable pelts deci-
mated the species between
1800 and 1830. They sent
many of the pelts to be
sold in China, stowed out
of reach of moths and
damp in empty rum casks.
(Max Eissler)
