Skeggs Point, California

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If not for the vegetation, there is a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay south of Candlestick Park, (a.k.a. Monster Park, 3Com Park). Skeggs Point is about 2,300 feet (701 meters) above mean sea level, (AMSL). NAD83 coordinates for the location are coor dms|37|24|39|N|122|18|22|W. The USGS shows a benchmark of Convert|2315|ft|m|0|abbr=on at the vista point.

A peak named Sierra Morena (elevation Convert|2417|ft|m|0|abbr=on) is a prominent local feature about 100 feet (30 meters) west of the Skeggs Point turn-out. it is closed to the public because of communication antennas and microwave equipment. Land along the roadway is largely owned by a Special District, the "Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District".

Named for Caltrans District 4 Engineer

[
Auburn University) uniform, circa 1901.] The geographic feature was named for Colonel John Hunt Skeggs, (US Army ret.), who served in World War I. On returning from the war, he worked as California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4 engineer from roughly 1919 until his retirement in 1952. Skeggs was a high-profile factor in early Caltrans District 4 project work building US 101, SR 35, SR 152 through Pacheco Pass, the Waldo Tunnel, the Altamont Pass (then US 50 and now part of I-580), as well as a pre-1952 El Camino Real widening project. Before the war, he worked for the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, (DWP).

Col. Skeggs died 28 August 1959 in Santa Clara, California.

ources

* Beal, Richard, "Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz", (Aptos, Calif.: Pacific Group, 1991).
* Woodside, California, 7.5 minute Quadrangle, US Geological Survey, 1997.
* AncestryLibrary.com (death record information).
* Photo courtesy of Auburn University.

External links

* [http://www.openspace.org/ Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District]
* [http://www.openspace.org/preserves/maps/pr_ecdm.pdf MROSD map of area.]
*This area may be in the [http://www.woodsidefire.org/ Woodside Fire District]