This cache, and Neary Quarry - 1, have been placed to present the history of Hale Creek and Neary Quarry in Los Altos Hills.
Hale Creek is named for Joseph P. Hale, who at one time owned most of the Rancho San Antonio land grant.[3] Hale was one of the largest land owners in the west, thanks to marrying the daughter of a large Spanish grant holder. He bought 2,000 acres of Juana Briones’ original ranch and was one of Los Altos’ earliest large land owners. He and four other families lived on the Hale Ranch.[4]
In the 1930s Neary Rock Quarry was dug on upper Hale Creek.[5] The quarry supplied base rock for the construction of Moffett Field and crushed rock for Highway 101 and I280.[6] After a 12 year long approval process, developer John Vidovich got Los Altos Hills approval in February, 2006 to build the Quarry Hills subdivision, consisting of 22 upscale homes (down from 78) and an eleven acre lake, by damming the outflow from the quarry to Hale Creek.[7]