It was Sept. 5, 1874, and the Crystal Springs Hotel posted a very unusual everything-must-go sale in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The business, it seemed, was literally about to go under water.
“The sale is of everything movable in and out of the hostelry,” the notice read. “Before another winter has passed, the valley in which the hotel is situated, with all its present homesteads, cottages and roads, will be a lake.”
That lake is Crystal Springs Reservoir, an aquatic expanse alongside the I-280 in San Mateo County that serves as a major source of San Francisco tap water and one of the most valued parks in the South Bay. More than 300,000 people visit annually to walk, bike and bird watch along its shore, but as Crystal Springs evolves as a recreational space, its fascinating backstory recedes further into the memory hole of history…