Echo Valley Road (Monterey County)

Echo Valley Road is an approximately three mile connecting highway through the Gablian Range in the Prunedale area. The corridor begins at Monterey County Route G12 at San Miguel Canyon Road and extends east to an interchange located at US Route 101. Echo Valley Road originated near the founding of Prunedale during the 1890s but did not become a modernized roadway until the middle of the twentieth century.

Part 1; the history of Echo Valley Road

Echo Valley is located in the community of Prunedale. Said community 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.

What is now modern Echo Valley Road can be seen on the 1917 California State Automobile Association map. Said map shows the roadway extending east from the site of Prunedale along modern San Miguel Canyon Road east to Legislative Route Number 2 at the San Juan Grade (future US Route 101). The corridor is shown be a minor roadway and also comprises what is Crazy Horse Canyon Road.

During 1932 US Route 101 was realigned off the San Juan Grade through the so-called "Prunedale Cutoff" through Langley Canyon. The then new alignment of US Route 101 spurred development of Prunedale and the community reobtained Post Office service in 1953. A modernized roadway through Echo Valley first appears on the 1956 United States Geological Survey map of the Prunedale area (courtesy historicaerials.com).

Part 2; a drive on Echo Valley Road

Eastbound Echo Valley Road begins from San Miguel Canyon Road (Monterey County Route G12) in Prunedale.

Eastbound Echo Valley Road ascends into the Gabilan Range and crests an unnamed pass at 523 feet above sea level. The summit of the unnamed pass faces towards Fremont Peak.

Echo Valley Road ends at an interchange with US Route 101. The roadway continues east as Crazy Horse Canyon Road east to the San Juan Grade.

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