Purisima Creek (San Mateo County)

The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, passed through the area on its way north, camping near the creek on October 27, 1769.

They stopped for the night at an abandoned Torose village at the northern side of the stream, close to the coast.

On the northern side of this stream there were some abandoned Indian huts; all who had the curiosity to look in to see these were covered with fleas.

On the road we had to dig a very long slope over which we had to make a passage in order to descend to a small stream where it empties into the sea."

[5] The California Academy of Sciences has a tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) skull fragment unearthed one mile inland from the mouth of Purisima Creek in 1951.