Silver Creek was a historical stream in present

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, corresponding to the modern-day Upper Silver Creek and Lower Silver Creek, tributaries to Coyote Creek. Silver Creek did not originally connect directly to Coyote Creek, but flowed into and out of a marshy area within Rancho Yerba Buena known as Laguna Socayre, an area which includes the present-day

Lake Cunningham __NOTOC__ Lake Cunningham is an artificial lake in Lake Cunningham Park, in East San Jose, California, near the Eastridge Mall and Eastridge Transit Center. It is not a geological feature recognized in the Geographic Names Information System (GN ...

, a floodwater

retention basin A retention basin, sometimes called a wet pond, wet detention basin, or stormwater management pond (SWMP), is an artificial pond with vegetation around the perimeter and a permanent pool of water in its design. It is used to manage stormwater r ...

. The part above the laguna was diverted to drain directly to Coyote Creek through the Ramblewood neighborhood, and is now known as Upper Silver Creek. The part below the lake, which takes on the flow of Thompson Creek and other tributaries, and which originally distributed into a large wetland in what is now East San Jose, flows through a large concrete channel to Coyote Creek near Watson Park. The final segment of Lower Silver Creek merges with the lower part of Miguelita Creek before joining Coyote Creek. Some sources describe Miguelita Creek as a major tributary to Lower Silver Creek. Others show Lower Silver Creek as tributary to Miguelita Creek, in agreement with the GNIS coordinates for the mouth of Miguelita Creek.

Course

Lower Silver Creek:

References

Rivers of Santa Clara County, California {{California-river-stub