The distinctive peak overlooking Morgan Hill has been called a
variety of names over the years: Murphy
’s Peak, 21-mile Peak, Nob Hill, Morgan “Hill,” Oreja del Ojo
(Bear’s Eye), Ojo de Coche (Pig’s Eye), Loma de Toro (Bull’s Hill)
and by its present name El Toro (The Bull).
The distinctive peak overlooking Morgan Hill has been called a variety of names over the years: Murphy’s Peak, 21-mile Peak, Nob Hill, Morgan “Hill,” Oreja del Ojo (Bear’s Eye), Ojo de Coche (Pig’s Eye), Loma de Toro (Bull’s Hill) and by its present name El Toro (The Bull).
The City of Morgan Hill currently uses the hill in its official logo. Another version of the peak is on the front page of The Times newspaper.
No one knows exactly when the peak became known as El Toro, but it appears to have been named during the Mexican period between 1822-46.
However, some still argue that the mountain is Murphy’s Peak, a designation applied when it was simply a piece of real estate owned by the Murphy family who controlled the land.
Another popular theory usually affects newcomers to the area, who, lacking historical perspective, quite naturally assume that the nearby mountain is the “hill” for which the town was named.
This is understandable since it was nearly 122 years ago that Diana and Morgan Hill were married and built their dream home beneath El Toro.
But why Murphy’s Peak became known as El Toro again and who named it in the first place are still questions unanswered to this day.
Since most of the Spanish language names in California can be directly traced to diaries kept by explorers, one would expect to find a reference to the local summit.
But, extensive searches have not revealed this information, and a local version of the El Toro story continues to gain favor.
Accordingly, El Toro’s name was the inspiration of an early exploring party, whose direction of travel was from the south and to whom the mountain may have looked like a large Spanish bull with the peak as the hunched shoulder blades and the rounded hill to the south its hindquarters.
Even today, this form can occasionally be discerned, especially at dusk or on certain gloomy days when the clouds hang low and blur the geographic features. But, because “seeing” El Toro requires such effort and imagination, it leaves this traditional explanation in question.
A different unsubstantiated tale attributes the naming of El Toro to the popular Gold Rush era writer, Bret Harte, who visited the Murphy’s at their Llagas Valley home.
On a horseback ride to the top Harte and others came upon two bulls fighting. As the tale goes, the bulls, annoyed at the disturbance, turned on the men who were forced to flee.
It’s claimed by some that on recalling the incident, Harte gave the mountain its new name.
This version has found local favor and was reported in a 1902 edition of the Morgan Hill Sun.
In addition to the puzzle of its name, there are other unresolved mysteries about El Toro: whether it was ever a volcano, whether the so-called Indian caves on the west side were ever occupied by Indians or outlaws, and how the veins of poppy jasper are unique in Morgan Hill.
The volcano thesis was a fondly held theory based on a survey done in the beginning of this century by Stanford geologists who claimed that the present peak was a fragment of a huge volcano that once covered the valley floor.
Their theory was that the ancient mountain “blew out” and disintegrated, causing the present tilt of the valley floor which created the geographic anomaly of two rivers running parallel but in different directions.
The Coyote Creek begins in the Diablo range on the east side of the valley, runs almost due south toward Gilroy, then makes a turn and flows due west as it passes Morgan Hill, finally emptying into San Francisco Bay at Alviso.
Llagas Creek originates in the Coast Range on the west side of the valley, meanders along the Paradise Valley side of El Toro, slices east and south across the fields, meeting the Pajaro River south of Gilroy which flows into Monterey Bay.
However, local geologist Peter Anderson said not to worry. The peak won’t blow its top like Mt. St. Helens and the two rivers flowing in opposite directions can easily be explained.
“The mountain is made out of volcanic rock,” Anderson said. “It’s an erosional remnant of the oceanic crustal rock.”
The rock was formed between 65 and 100 million years ago when the entire valley was covered by water and the land mass known as El Toro was located in the Pacific Ocean somewhere near the equator.
It was formed from volcanic rock that flowed out of a long fracture that ran north and south in the Pacific and cooled almost immediately.
Layer upon layer built up until it was thousands of feet thick and it was transported eastward over millions of years to where we are today.
The reason the two rivers flow in opposite directions, Anderson said, is because a natural dam of alluvial sand and gravel was formed at the mouth of the Coyote Creek, causing it to turn.
“It deposited sand and gravel at the mouth of where it comes out of the Diablo Range near Anderson Reservoir,” Anderson said. “This causes Coyote to turn and go north toward the San Francisco Bay and causes Llagas Creek to turn and go south to the Pajaro River.”
The high point of most valleys is at one end of the valley with the water flowing away from the high point.
“This valley is unusual,” Anderson said. “The high point is somewhere in the middle so that water from Cochrane Road north flows toward the San Francisco Bay, while from Cochrane Road south the water flows toward Monterey Bay.”
The “Indian Caves” found high on the south side of the peak are unlikely candidates for either Indian or outlaw dwellings since the only area big enough to stand upright is in the small entry area.
The “outlaw hideout” story is probably unfounded even though a mention was made of Tiburcio Vasquez and caves and their distance from the main roads tends to discourage such adventurous notions.
The unique veins of poppy jasper, a quartz-type rock, have been explained in the past as a result of the lava flow from the old volcano.
The newest evidence finds that the prevalent semi-precious gemstone found in abundance on El Toro does represent altered volcanic rock that erupted sometime between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous period- which ended 70 million years ago- but in a submarine condition, that is, under the sea which then covered the valley.
The lava flow made contact with submarine rock bringing out the irons to form the unusual brick-red “poppy” pattern.
A claim is also made that poppy jasper is found in only one location in the world in Morgan Hill.
Jasper is a very common quartz-type mineral found all over the southwest United States. Orbicular Jasper – the real name of Poppy Jasper – is very rare, Anderson said.
Anderson said the mineral was formed after the continental United States crashed with the ocean floor. The rocks got churned around and fluids in the rock dissolved and turned into minerals in different forms.
“Poppy Jasper is really a recrystallization of some of this original volcanic rock,” Anderson said.
Today, El Toro mountain still rises majestically above the valley floor, its peak continues to dominate the landscape from almost every direction and its slopes remain free of unnatural disturbances.
A California Court of Appeals decision in favor of Save El Toro Association insured that the mountain would remain underdeveloped and the City of Morgan Hill adopted an open space policy defining El Toro’s status.
Despite the controversy surrounding the name, Morgan Hill residents continue to appreciate their stately old mountain which remains, as described by explorer Bayard Taylor in his 1850 book “Eldorado,” as “a landmark from Monterey to San Jose.”
Eldorado by Bayard Taylor is still in print and available at bookstores.
