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San Miguel Canyon Road

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San Miguel Canyon Road is an approximately 8.3-mile-long rural highway located in northern Monterey County.  San Miguel Canyon Road begins at San Juan Road (Monterey County Route G11) and heads south towards Prunedale.  The corridor of San Miguel Canyon Road picks up the designation of Monterey County Route G12 at Hall Road and carries it south to US Route 101 in Prunedale.  

San Miguel Canyon Road has served the Prunedale community since the 1890s.  As the name suggests much of the roadway corridor passes through San Miguel Canyon.  As northern Monterey County grew in the second half the twentieth century San Miguel Canyon Road would become a major local highway.  In 1965 the Hall Road-US Route 101 segment of San Miguel Canyon Road was added as component of Monterey County Route G12. 




Part 1; the history San Miguel Canyon Road

San Miguel Canyon Road serves to connect the community of Prunedale northward to San Juan Road (Monterey County Route G11) near the communities of Pajaro and Aromas.  Historically San Miguel Canyon Road is heavily associated with Prunedale.

Prunedale was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agriculture in the area consisted of Plum Trees which failed due to a lack of irrigation.  

San Miguel Canyon Road appears in detail on the 1917 United States Geological Survey map.  The corridor is shown to exist between the Prunedale School and San Juan Road. 



San Miguel Canyon Road is shown to be sparsely traveled on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Monterey County.   The corridor is shown to pass through the now defunct community of Dunbarton. 


Monterey County G12 was defined in 1965.  The corridor was added at the same time as Monterey County G11.  The purpose of both highways seems to have been to provide better route continuity between US Route 101 and the Watsonville/Pajaro area.  The County Route corridor incorporated San Miguel Canyon Road from Hall Road south to US Route 101 in Prunedale.  

Below the present alignment of County Route G12 can be seen as mapped by cahighways.org. 




Part 2; a drive on San Miguel Canyon Road

Southbound San Miguel Canyon Road branches away from San Juan Road (Monterey County Route G11).



San Miguel Canyon Road crosses the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and continues southward to Tarpey Road at the former site of Dunbarton.  Southbound San Miguel Canyon Road makes a right-hand turn at Tarpey Road.  
















Southbound San Miguel Canyon Road makes a left-hand turn at Hall Road and picks up Monterey County Route G12. 




San Miguel Canyon Road and Monterey County Route G12 head southward into Prunedale where they terminate at the ramps for US Route 101. 














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