The Laguna Grande place name is also shown on the 1840s diseño del Rancho Cañada de Raymundo[2] and an 1856 plat.

In 1776, the expedition led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, rather than stay on the coast as Portola had done, followed an inland route from Monterey, California established by Pedro Fages in 1770.

There I found in our camp nearly all the men of the village, very friendly, content, and joyful, putting themselves out to serve us in every way, a circumstance which I have noted in all the natives seen from the 26th up to now, but one which I had not experienced theretofore since leaving the people of the Colorado River.

[8] Shortly thereafter, the rest of the de Anza party – families, soldiers, and priests on their way to help establish the presidio and mission – also camped here for three days, June 24–27, 1776.

San Mateo Creek once hosted coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) as evidenced by specimens collected by Professor Alexander Agassiz of Harvard University in the 1850s and 1860s.

On Cahill Ridge, just west of San Mateo Creek and east of Pilarcitos Creek, at an altitude of 1,000 feet, Oberlander measured fog drip beneath tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), coast redwood and three Douglas fir trees, the latter 125 feet tall.

The Douglas fir produced 7-17 inches of fog drip and appeared to provide unique conditions supporting the orchids giant helleborine (Epipactis gigantea) and phantom orchid (Cephalanthera austiniae), since these plants were found exclusively in these moist ridge tops.

[16] The upper reach of the lower watershed of San Mateo Creek below Crystal Springs Dam consists of open space and sparsely developed residential areas of the cities of Hillsborough and San Mateo, California.

This upper reach consists of closed canopy California oak woodland and serpentine grassland.

[17] The middle reach consists of increasingly dense single family and multifamily residential land use along with some adjacent school, park and commercial uses.