Here are a few more place names.
CASTRO STATION- Castro Station was located on the Southern Pacific Railroad between Mountain View and Palo Alto. It was named for Mariano Castro who owned Rancho Pastoria delos Borregas (Lambs Pature).
CHINATOWN- San Jose once had the second largest Chinatown in the United States. The first settlement, in 1850, was in the vicinity of Market and San Fernando Streets. It was burned in 1887. The next settlement was moved Northeast, and was sponsored by John Heinline and was known as Heinlenville. Things were kept lively by occasional "Tong Wars." (Glorai Hom offers a course at West Valley and Mission Colleges on the influence of the Chinnese in The Valley. I highly recommend it.)
CONGRESS SPRINGS- This spring was discovered by Jerd Caldwell in 1862 one mile above Saratoge. It was named for its Eastern counterpart in Saratoga, New York as the mineral water had same elements. The water was bottled and sold throughout the West. An elegant resort hotel was built on 720 acres, and it became one of The Valleys most popular picnic grounds. The Peninsula Railroad ran to it. Fire destroyed it in 1903 and the railroad abondend this line in 1932. The property was bought by The San Jose Water Company, and now nothing remains of the resort.
COOKS POND- A forgotten lake and resort park on The Alameda at Southern end of Santa Clara City limits. The lake was fed by Mission Creek, which is also extinct, and originated from springs in Hanchett Park and Stockton Avenue area. It watered The Alameda Willows, and formed the pond, and irrigated the old mission orchard, which is now the baseball field for the University of Santa Clara. The creek finally joined the Guadlupe River. Up until recently, one lone redwood still marks the entrance to the spot.
COYOTE- Coyote is the Spanish word for wolf. The name was used for a town and a river. The town was located 12 miles South of San Jose. The river is the longest in The Valley. The town was a flag stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and had a saloon and a store. In 1776 De Anza followed the river's course, naming it Arroyo de Coyote.
CUPERTINO- The town was named for a saint born in Cupertino Italy, canonized in 1776. De Anza and Padre Pedro both wrote in their diaries that they camped on Arroyo San Jose Cupertino on March 25, 1776. The town was originally called West Side, and the post office was established there in 1882. The name was changed to Cupertino in 1865, and the city was incorporated in 1955.
DRY CREEK- Dry Creek Road is the former stream bed of Los Gatos Creek. This dates back to the 1850's when a French grape farmer cut a ditch from his vineyard to the creek (Approximately where San Tomas Expressway crosses the creek today) and the water cut a new course. Later, the county cut a ditch, the Kirk ditch, from the point where the stream diverted all the way to Willow Glen for the farmers to use as a water supply. (Provided by Steve Scruggs)
EDENVALE- This area was located six miles South of San Jose on Rancho Santa Theresa, once the property of Jaquin Bernal (1834). In 1886 it was a flag stop on the S.P. It was named for Eden-like beauty of Hayes estate, which later became Frontier Village, and is now track homes.
EL CAMINO REAL- Literally means "The Royal Highway", it is 600 miles long. It was the "Pathway to the Padres" and the 21 California Missions are spaced along it, one days walk apart. Today, it is the "main drag" through Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, changing names to The Alameda near the San Jose border.
EL QUITO- The translation of the name is uncertain. Rancho Quito was granted to Moriega and Fernandez in 1841. Don Arguello planted olive trees in this section in 1861. This led to production of the highest grade olive oil.
EVERGREEN- Located on the Rancho Yerba Buena (Good Herbs)it was named evergreen due to immense groves of live oak trees. U.S. patent to Chabolla in 1858. By 1870, there was a blacksmith, school, store, church and post office.
FRONTIER VILLAGE- The only amusement park to grace these pages, Frontier Village was this wonderful place out on Montery Road where a kid could experience the "real wild west". There is a great page up about it here.
GILROY- The town was named for John Gilroy. (See first section) It was located on Rancho Las Animas and San Ysidro. The first building was a saloon and post office in 1850, with the post office consisting of a cigar box. It was incorporated in 1868, with the arrival of the railroad.
GILROY HOT SPRINGS- The springs were discovered in 1865 by a Mexican sheep herder. De Anza reported camping here in a 1776 diary. At one time this was a highly developed resort with a large, fashionable hotel. A few years back there was some talk of building a new resort on the site. (It is beautiful, and the waters are great!)
GUADALUPE MINE- Located on Rancho delos Capitancillos (Little Captain) 4 miles North West of New Almaden Mine. It was never as productive as New Almaden. It's main history was litigation and today it is famous as "the dumps".
GUADALUPE RIVER- (The Arabic word means "Wolf River") The river rises near Mount Ownouhum and wanders to Alviso. It was discovered by The Portola Expidition, but named by De Anza in 1776 when he crossed it near Agnew.
GUBSERVILLE- This was an early day settlement and mail stop on the stage route from Santa Clara to Saratoga. It has been buried long ago by The Westgate Shopping Center.
HOLY CITY- This is now a ghost town, but was a booming community once. It is located on "The Old Santa Cruz Highway". It was founded in 1917 by "Father William Riker" and his "disciples" on a religous-commercial basis, with traffic stopping queer concessions.
LEXINGTON- This town had the same general location, and suffered the same fate, as Alma. A sawmill was built by Isaac Branham and William Hanks. The town also boasted of a lumber yard, post office, oil company, hotel and saloons. It was an important railroad shipping point for mountain fruit and lumber. It died with the railroad stoppage of 1940. (Laurel, Wrights, and Glenwood, all located farther along the abondend railroad route, still retain landmarks of pioneer days.)
LOMA PRIETA- Along with lending its name to a major geological fault, it is also a mountain. With an altitude of 3,806 feet, it is the highest peak in The Southern Range. It was once known as Mt. Bache, being named for A.P. Bache of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.