Lake Temescal

Lake Temescal is a small lake in the northeastern hills section of Oakland, California. It is the centerpiece of Temescal Regional Park (originally, Lake Temescal Regional Park). It is part of the greater East Bay Regional Park District. The lake received its name from the stream which is its source, Temescal Creek, which was dammed in 1868 to create a reservoir to provide drinking water for the greater East Bay area, pumped by the Contra Costa Water Company, owned by Anthony Chabot. Prior to being dammed, Lake Temescal was a sag pond, a depression caused by the Hayward Fault. The bulk of the manual labor of removing soil and digging to bedrock was provided by Chinese immigrants, who probably immigrated to work to build the railroads....