SPC line at the Lexington Reservoir site

Welcome to the SPC page. In this page, I will describe pictures I have taken in the morning of Nov 11,1999 in the Lexington Reservoir area of the SPC Right Of Way (ROW) and the reamins of the Alma village site. (Use back button to come bck to this page after viewing each picture. Each picture are between 40K and 98K in size)

I started by parking in the parking lot almost on top of the Lexington dam. From here I took the first 4 pictures, looking South, from right to left. The views start with HWY.17 in the background, and the bridge connecting the two sides of the canyon, over the dam. Next we see the West side of the lake. Next is the lake itself, very low. You can see the "finger" in the lake on which there are a couple of fundations and the small asphalt ramp. Supposetly the fundation next to the ramp is the Alma station. The last of the 4, shows the East side of the lake, where the Boating Club is, Though it is difficult to see because of the sun glare.

Looking North from the same position, one sees the other side of the dam and the canyon with the Los Gatos Creek, as this picture shows. Notice the shelf on which the ROW was, now occupied by the San Jose Water Supply pipe. The next 5 pictures shows close ups of the two shelves visible from the pathway leading down from the dam going North: pic1 - pic2 - pic3 - pic4 - pic5.

Following the path and after taking the concrete bridge, we are on the west side of the canyon. We end up on an asphalt road, of which I am not sure if it is part of the old 17 or was put there afterwards.

Around this area, on the creek side, one can see the contrete piers where the ROW crossed the Los Gatos Creek from the West side to the East side. Here are two more views: view 2 and view 3.

Following a very small path from the main path, we drop down to the actual ROW. At this point we see the North way and the South way, this one leading the the piers. Coming to the edge of the ROW to the creek, we see the old abutment. A large concrete structure (seen here in the lower right corner, also visible in the North way picture, at the far end of the ROW) was built to support the very large pipe going accross the creek, over the piers. This picture was taken from below.

To take the next picture was a hard hike (I am not a hiker BTW) across the creek and among rocks and vegetation with thorns. But here it is, a full view of one of the piers.

This is a far North I went. Coming back up, one has the view of the top of the dam and the ROW leading into the dam on the East side.

At this point I hiked back to the car and drove around the lake on Alma Bridge Road. The next 9 picturs are of the Alma station site, though from this point of view I am not sure which is which. If anybody has any comments on these, please let me know. The pictures are also from a distance and with the zoom they are not too clear. Anyway:

• Alma 1
• Alma 2
• Alma 3
• Alma 4
• Alma 5
• Alma 6
• Alma 7
• Alma 8
• Alma 9

For a closer look at the remains of Alma, link to this page.

Continuing South on Alma Bridge Road, we encounter (and I believe the road was put on top of the ROW) the ROW itself, still with the water pipe on it. First view is looking North, the second is the ROW disappearing under the road towards the south.

A little farther south and we come to the wooden trestle. I could not believe it, but there it was in all its glory. The pictures do not give justice to the site. You have to be there to appreciate the beauty and the gentle curve. The following are 9 pictures of the trestle seen from the road.

• Trestle 1
• Trestle 2
• Trestle 3
• Trestle 4
• Trestle 5
• Trestle 6
• Trestle 7
• Trestle 8
• Trestle 9

I was able to walk under it and discovered there was a road passing under the bridge. These last two pictures were taken from the west side of the bridge, right at the center of the (supposedly) road that at that point it makes a 90 degree curve.

A little further down the road, we come to an intersection, with a gate. Behond the gate, the ROW continues South.

The road continues to the southern tip of the lake and goes north on the west side. I came upon these tanks, one big and one small, but I do believe they are not SP, since they seem to be used now by the people living there.

This is the end of the story. I hope you like this presentation, even though it was prepared rather hastly, so will probably have quite a few errors. Let me know of any problems.

User the back arrow or button to go back to the previous page.

Cheers
Leo