Skip to main content

Pine Valley Road (Monterey County)

By

Pine Valley Road is a rural single-lane highway located in the Gabilan Range of southern Monterey County.  The roadway originates at the former alignment of US Route 101 along Cattleman Road and extends nine miles north to California State Route 198 in Long Valley.  Pine Valley Road appears to have been plotted after the Southern Pacific Railroad was extended through San Ardo during the late 1880s.  




Part 1; the history of Pine Valley Road

Pine Valley Road is located in southern Monterey County and is named after a valley of same name.  Pine Valley Road originates at the former alignment of US Route 101 on Cattleman Road near the former site of Docas siding.  Docas was located between the larger Southern Pacific Railroad sidings of San Lucas and San Ardo.  

Both San Lucas and San Ardo were plotted by the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific Railroad) in 1886 as siding facilities.  San Ardo was originally known as San Bernardo, but the name was changed upon receiving Post Office Service in 1887.  Conversely the name of San Lucas was derived from Rancho San Lucas.  Both San Lucas and San Ardo can be seen on the 1890 George F. Cram Railroad Map of California.  

The 1915 United States Geological Survey map of Priest Valley depicts a primitive road through Pine Valley and Gabilan Range from near Docas between Cattleman Road northeast to the Warthan Canyon Road (future California State Route 198) in Long Valley.  Pine Valley Road is shown to pass the site of the Sherman School near the mouth of Brown Canyon. 





Part 2; a drive on Pine Valley Road

Northbound Pine Valley Road begins near the site of Docas siding from Cattleman Road.  


Pine Valley Road crosses the Union Pacific Railroad in front of a power transformer station. 



The entirety of Pine Valley Road is a narrow single lane.  The initial couple miles are mostly straight but begins to curve considerably as road rises into the Gabilan Range.











Pine Valley Road continues north through numerous ranching properties to a crest above Long Valley located at approximately 1,281 feet above sea level.

























Pine Valley Road descends into Long Valley and terminates at California State Route 198. 







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cajon Pass; Cajon Pass Toll Road, National Old Trails Road, US Route 66/91/395 and Interstate 15

By
This past weekend I spent some time in Cajon Pass traversing the many historic road alignments. Cajon Pass is located in San Bernardino County, California along the San Andreas Fault.  Cajon Pass  serves the boundary line between the Mojave Desert, the San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains and San Bernardino Valley.  Cajon Pass is historically one of the most traveled transportation corridors in American California and presently is served by four rail lines, Interstate 15 and California State Route 138. While Cajon Pass is known mostly for carrying US Route 66 it has carried numerous other signed highways that have had a significant impact on regional and national road travel.  While this is my best attempt to compile everything from the best sources I could find into one single transportation history blog regarding road travel in Cajon Pass I suspect as time goes on this article will be frequently updated.  If you have any information that you ...
1 comment
Read more

Pardee Dam Road

By
Pardee Dam is a 358-foot-high concrete structure located near Campo Seco at the Calaveras County and Amador County Line.  Pardee Dam impounds the Mokelumne River which forms the namesake Pardee Reservoir.  Pardee Dam was completed during 1929 and is part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.  Pardee Dam is accessed by the namesake Pardee Dam Road which crosses the structure via the one-lane road seen as the blog cover photo.   Part 1; the history of Pardee Dam Road The closest community to Pardee Dam is that of Campo Seco on the Calaveras County side of the Mokelumne River.  Campo Seco was founded in 1850 by Mexican Miners who worked placer claims in Oregon Gulch during the height of the California Gold Rush.  Campo Seco would reach a population of about three hundred by 1860 spurred by the numerous mining claims in the area.  Main Street of Campo Seco flowed directly into the Campo Seco Turnpike which had been authorized by the California L...
2 comments
Read more

California State Route 82/Old US Route 101 on the El Camino Real from San Francisco to Interstate 380

By
After completing Interstate 380 I made my way northward into the City Limits of San Francisco to drive the northernmost portion of California State Route 82. CA 82 is 52 mile State Route between I-280 in San Francisco southward to Interstate 880 in San Jose.  CA 82 is significant due to it being part of the historical surface alignment of US Route 101 and the El Camino Real. The "El Camino Real" was a Spanish Highway in Las Californias and Alta California which connected the 21 Catholic Missions along the coast.  Essentially the route of the El Camino Real was plotted out in the late 1700s from two Spanish survey expeditions.  The Missions were plotted approximately 30 miles apart along the 600 mile route so that they would be a single day journey by horse.  The El Camino Real name fell into disuse after the Mexican Revolution of 1821 but was revived by American highway promoters in the 1890s and 1900s.  Today the El Camino Real is mostly associated...
2 comments
Read more