For me our home search has included time spent looking over maps of Oakland, maps of the school district, crime, creek maps, the original land grants, present day house values, etc…. This morning I found a KML file for Google Earth that overlays aerial photographs of Oakland taken in 1946. For you other Oaktownies out there, I highly recommend checking this out. Its just a matter of downloading the KML file, and importing it into Google Earth.
I have noticed numerous black circles, each apparently around a lot, drawn on the map. It would be good to know what these are for. I have yet to sort them out. The screen shot above focuses on one of these circles above Sausal Creek, just below the Central Reservoir. It is interesting to note that the houses and road in the area circled have since been wiped out by a landslide. I suspect that the landslide occurred during the torrential rains of the early 80’s, but am simply guessing.
Update
This morning I found an Oakland map from 1897 at the Oakland Museum’s website. This snapshot of it is rotated 90 degrees clockwise so that you have the same view of the area of the Central Reservoir. I have zoomed out to provide more context thus the scales are very different between the shot above and this map. It is interesting to see that the Central Reservoir is in the same location once occupied by a small lake. I had assumed that the reservoir was merely a holding station for EBMUD water.
I have also learned that the most recent land slide occurred in 2006, and ruined a home. EBMUD was served with a law suit. The Dimond Public Safety Council has a website on the risks of flooding from this reservoir and other creeks in the East Bay.
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