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Lake El Estero is part of the building blocks of Monterey, California and has been classified as a citywide park. Originally a salt-water lagoon, its outlets to the bay were cut off because of over flooding. The park has become an estuary to many migrating birds and ongoing improvements have been made into preserving the park. Today Lake El Estero not only draws in many eager adults for its beauty and history but attracts kids for its baseball diamond, skatepark, and world famous Dennis the Menace Park. == History == When El Estero was first discovered it was a lagoon filled with brackish water. Three major streams flowed into the lagoon. One stream went south to where San Carlos Cathedral currently is. The second went to the location of the County's courthouse. The final stream followed (today's) Del Monte Boulevard and flowed into the bay. In 1770 the first map of Lake El Estero was made by Miguel Costanso, a Spanish officer and engineer in the first expedition to California. The lagoon flooded constantly and in 1846 Walter Colton, a chaplain for the U.S. Navy, found a solution to the flooding problems. In his diary he wrote that “…it would be a good scheme to cut a channel between the two (the lagoon and the Bay)” (The Years in California, Walter Colton). In April 1874 the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad was built which permanently cut off the stream connecting El Estero to the Bay. This halted the flooding and turned the lagoon into the freshwater lake that we know today. From 1930 to 1931 efforts were made in turning the lake into an aquatic park. This was called the El Estero Development Project that was led by the City of Monterey. Eighty thousand cubic yards of mud were moved in its development. El Estero has been a popular resting spot for migrating birds and in 1933 the bird refuge was named after Harry Ashland Greene, who had a great impact in its development. Between 1938 and 1951 vast improvements were done to the park including “drudging and shoreline plantings (“Monterey City of Parks/ El Estero”)” and “two bridges connecting Pearl with Second and Fifth Streets (“Monterey City of Parks/ El Estero”)”. These new bridges connected downtown with the Oak Grove District. In 1984 the lake was drained in order to remove 6,000 truckloads of silt, which was clogging drains. People were also worried that there may be bacteria and bird droppings in the mud. Storm drains were rerouted so silt and mud would be dumped into smaller ponds. This allowed workers to remove it more easily. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lake El Estero」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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