Matadero Creek Indian artifacts found on the Veterans Hospital indicate significant usage, although the site may have been less than a permanent village. During the Mission era, this was a site for butchering cattle. Presumably, this is why it was used as a center of activity for the old ranches. It is fully shaded for virtually all of its path through the neighborhood. Little of the creek bed is publicly owned, except in the park.
Property lines come to the middle of the creek.
Some of the summer water flow comes from ground water. A geologic fold pushes the water table to above the level of the creek in the Bol Park area. This produced a faster and wider spread of that pollution than if it had simply moved through the ground. The assessment of the experts is that the current location of this pollution is far enough down in the water table as to not affect the residents of the neighborhood. Matadero Creek entered the Baylands less than 500 yards from where the natural segment now ends.