38°51′15″N 120°51′34″W / 38.85417°N 120.85944°W / 38.85417; -120.85944

Garden Valley
Unincorporated community
Garden Valley Location in California Show map of California Garden Valley Garden Valley (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 38°51′15″N 120°51′34″W / 38.85417°N 120.85944°W / 38.85417; -120.85944
Country	United States
State	California
County	El Dorado County
Elevation [1]	1,949 ft (594 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	2,391

Garden Valley (formerly, Johntown) is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California.^[1] It is located on Johntown Creek 6.25 miles (10 km) north-northwest of Chili Bar,^[2] at an elevation of 1949 feet (594 m).^[1]

A post office operated at Garden Valley from 1852 to 1853, from 1854 to 1862, from 1872 to 1895, and from 1896 to present (having moved in 1940).^[2] The place was originally called Johntown in honor of the sailor who discovered gold at the site.^[2]

The first Garden Valley community hall was built in 1856 by the Sons of Temperance; it was replaced by a second hall in the 1870s and a third in 1933. James Marshall, whose 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill launched the California Gold Rush, was a regular visitor to Garden Valley.^[3]

Garden Valley, like many communities in the foothills of El Dorado County, lies in a region with significant levels of asbestos in the soil. Roads in Garden Valley were paved in 1986 in an effort to control asbestos-laden dust; the state issued an air quality warning for the area in 1999, but county supervisors voted down a measure to protect the residents from asbestos dust.^[4]

The Black Oak Mine Unified School District serves Garden Valley.^[5]

• Garden Valley Mining Properties Collection, 1934-1938.

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