Views of Highway 50

In Snake Valley there is probably more than a thousand miles of roads, but only a small fraction (well under ten percent) are paved roads.

As Jay pointed out in the previous post, where the highway went was important for a lot of different reasons. Today, most of the businesses in Snake Valley are on or near the paved roads.

US Highways 6 and 50 combine as they go through Snake Valley, and in fact the Snake Valley portion was one of the last parts to be paved.

Here's a view of US Highway 50 as it heads up towards the Willows area of Sacramento Pass.

Near the top of Sacramento Pass, it's possible to see a chained area on the northern side of the highway, where tractors pulled large chains between them to knock down the pinyon and juniper trees. This is one method used to create openings for wildlife.

As Highway 50 descends from Sacramento Pass into Spring Valley, it passes by a meadow area with several new houses being built there. It's probably the biggest "boom" area around (about five houses built over the last seven years), and even though it's technically not in Snake Valley, we still consider all the people who live out near the pass as part of it. Some attend school in Snake Valley, others frequently visit the businesses, and they used to be part of the Snake Valley telephone party line system, which will hopefully be the subject of a future post because it was one of the longest-lived party line systems in the country.