Pacheco Pass
| Pacheco Pass | |
|---|---|
Coming over the pass eastbound on CA 152
|
|
| Elevation | 1,368 ft (417 m) |
| Traversed by |
 SR 152
|
| Location | Santa Clara County, California, U.S. |
| Range | California Coast Ranges |
| Coordinates | 37°3′59″N 121°13′7″W / 37.06639°N 121.21861°W |
 |
|
| Reference no. | 829 |
Pacheco Pass, elevation 1,368 ft (417 m), is a mountain pass located in the Diablo Range in southeastern Santa Clara County, California. It is the main route through the hills separating the Santa Clara Valley and the Central Valley.
As with most passes in the California Coast Ranges, it is not very high when compared to those in other mountain areas within the state. The road that traverses Pacheco Pass is State Route 152, which runs for 106 miles (171 km) between SR 1 in Watsonville and SR 99. Pacheco Pass Road, the western section between Gilroy and the pass itself (a distance of approximately 14 miles), is double-lane state highway in each direction and is the site of many accidents.
The pass was named for Francisco Perez Pacheco of the Rancho Ausaymas y San Felipe. In the 1850s, an informal variant name for the pass was Robber's Pass attributed to the frequent hold-ups experienced by travelers using the route.
A trail nearby, through what is now Pacheco State Park, was used by the Yokuts people to cross the mountains and trade with other native people on the coast.Spanish army officer Gabriel Moraga first recorded the pass in 1805. Since then, it has been a major route between the Santa Clara Valley and the Central Valley. It was the site of one of the stage stations on the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route which connected the Saint Louis, Missouri with San Francisco from 1858 until 1861. Other stage lines used the route thereafter until completion of the railroads within the state.
...
Wikipedia