San Andreas Lake

San Andreas Lake () is an artificial lake adjacent to the San Francisco Peninsula cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in San Mateo County, California. It is situated directly on the San Andreas Fault, which is named after the lake.

History

The Gaspar de Portolà expedition camped near the site of the lake on November 4, 1769, just prior to their discovery of San Francisco Bay; the discovery site is on Sweeney Ridge immediately west of the lake. Padre Palóu called the San Andreas Creek Valley the Cañada de San Andrés in 1774.

Description

Originally a small natural sag pond, the lake was expanded in 1875 with the construction of an earthen dam. The dam survived the 1906 earthquake despite the fact that the fault runs directly under the dam.Robert Iacopi, Earthquake Country (Menlo Park: Lane Publishing Company, 1964)

In 1895, Professor Andrew Lawson of the University of California, Berkeley, conferred the name of the lake on the earthquake fault he discovered in its vicinity.

Public access

Since the lake is a public water source, it is closed to the public. However, hikers and bicyclists may travel along the eastern shores of the lake on a paved trail that runs just west of Skyline Boulevard from San Bruno...
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