132 years ago
The beautiful valley of Los Gatos shows unpleasant signs of a past flood. Thousands of live oaks growing on the bottom land, forming last year a continuous park for miles, are now leafless. They have been nearly, if not totally, destroyed by an excess of moisture, Some of them are struggling hard to throw out new foliage. Others show no signs of life. The debris of the flood is scattered from one end of the valley to the other, showing that the present innocent looking stream, just large enough to drive a flouring mill, was a mighty river extending over broad meadows and burying them 10 feet beneath its turbulent surface. (San Francisco Bulletin, June 3, 1878)
