Laurel is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Santa Cruz County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States, in the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone: Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of the Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast R ...

. It is in a valley at an elevation of above sea level.

History

A toll road was built from

Los Gatos Los Gatos (; ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of t ...

to Santa Cruz, passing through the eventual site of Laurel, and was utilized by stagecoaches. Then, a narrow gauge railroad was constructed over the mountains to provide transportation for lumber and the numerous crops grown in the area. Rather than wind around the steep slopes, a series of tunnels bored through successive ridges. Laurel sat in a narrow valley between the two longest tunnel segments, both over a mile long. The longest and highest of the tunnels began northwest of Laurel at Wrights Station (sometimes designated "Wright's Station" or simply "Wrights"), about a mile east of Patchen. From Wrights Station it went through a tunnel to a point just north of Laurel. During the construction of the Summit tunnel (which leads to Wrights), a strong flow of natural gas was encountered, and an explosion followed, which resulted in the death of 32 Chinese workers. The main leak was subsequently stopped, but gas continued to escape in small quantities. The extent of the supply was unknown. At Laurel, the rail line entered another long tunnel, continuing to the southwest and emerging just north of Glenwood. That tunnel cut through a ridge, below today's State Highway 17. The railroad was completed in 1880 from Los Gatos to Felton, and on south to Santa Cruz. The railroad was later purchased by the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

. The area was seriously affected by the April 18, 1906, earthquake, largely because the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...

passes through the mountains. There were numerous offsets and fissures, resulting in damage to the rails, bridges, and tunnels. Homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed as well. The railroad recovered from the disaster and operated until heavy rains in February 1940 caused major landslides; the Southern Pacific decided not to repair the damage. Completion of State Route 17, west of Laurel, that same year also contributed to the demise of the railroad and several small communities, including Laurel, that were located along the railroad right-of-way. Since then, some homes have been built around the site of Laurel, but the village itself no longer exists. Laurel Drive passes through the village's site.

References

{{Santa Cruz County, California Former settlements in Santa Cruz County, California Ghost towns in the San Francisco Bay Area