Let me make it enticing.
While the leather is creaking, we will witness: the biggest manhunt in California history; how the valley got named; how a new road changed the face of the valley forever; and, we’ll even have a visit from that wonderful and sweet man — literally — who was also a master of cinema horror, Boris Karloff, himself.
There’s graverobbers, sheep herders and one of the most bizarre rescues in SCV history.
C’mon. Get in the saddle and wave like you’re in the parade. It helps wake you up…
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
— The first known Caucasian to visit this area, explorer Don Gaspar de Portola, crossed into the Santa Clarita Valley on August 8, 1869. He was treated to a major earthquake his first night camping here.
— Speaking of well-known Caucasians, our humble West Ranch Beacon publisher Dave Bossert turns 50 next week. Foof and boy howdy, I’ve got cowboy boots older than that. Granted. They’re baby cowboy boots, but still…
— A couple of days later, Aug. 10, a humble padre, Father Juan Crespi, came up with the name for this valley that stuck to this day. While camping out near an Indian village in Castaic, Crespi noted that Aug. 10 was the feast day for Saint Clare. He dubbed the main waterway, Santa Clara. Because there was another Santa Clara up north, around the 1930s, historian A.B. Perkins sort of jokingly began calling us the Santa Clarita (little Santa Clara) River Valley.
N Likewise on Aug. 10, 1854 though, Fort Tejon was established north of here to protect the trade routes and cattle drives.
— Speaking of nefarious trouble-making yahoos like Mr. Bossert, a warm and Western happy birthday to Tibby. Famed SCV womanizing bandito and pistol fighter Tiburcio Vasquez was born on August 11, 1835, in Monterey, California. His house is still standing up there. Tiburcio still holds the record for being the subject of the biggest manhunt in the state’s history. Under his gentlemanly alias, he worked a horse ranch up near Sand Canyon and hid out from posses at a now-famous other-worldly rock formation called simply, The Rocks. After Tiburcio was hanged, locals named the geological outcropping Vasquez Rocks after the road agent, who, by the way, was a Leo.
— On August 8, 1855, Edward Fitzgerald Beale, surveyor-general of California and Nevada, bought a huge chunk of land he had officially surveyed — the Rancho La Liebre tract. The controversial Beale had been passed over as Surveyor General of the United States by Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln didn’t like the man, quipping that the land-hungry entrepreneur, “…tended to become master over all he surveyed.”
AUGUST 5, 1920 —
— While city incorporation had been voted down literally by a show of hands a few weeks earlier, the local movers and shakers kept holding meetings on how to best present Newhall to the outside world — and to protect it from the outside world as well. An 8 p.m. meeting at the old Conrad’s was held and locals filled the hall to discuss everything from road improvements to advertising. Locals even brought their children, setting up a little tent city to put the young ones to bed while the grown-ups shook the rafters with ideas and pointed index fingers.
— Father Coma was the priest for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. The little rectory was not quite a mile down the street off of present-day Lyons and Pastor Coma would come once a week from the San Fernando Mission to hold one Sunday mass, “at 8:30 SHARP” Father Coma always stipulated.
AUGUST 5, 1930 —
— Locals were pensively attempting to figure out what this dang new Weldon Canyon (Highway 99) road meant to Newhall. Prior to that, the major interstate traffic motored right through downtown Newhall, bringing with it both blessed business and speed demons. Talk of the town was how eerie it was without all the traffic. Signal editor, A.B. Thatcher, felt that we should encourage people to come to the SCV not just for tourism, but to stay and live. Some oldtimers today might wish that old Dad Thatcher had kept his mouth shut.
AUGUST 5, 1940 —
— Horror superstar Boris Karloff was in town, filming “The Ape.” Bill Nye directed the film on the Monogram lot in Placerita Canyon. Perhaps the real star was an unnamed athlete in a $3,500 gorilla suit. Signal editor Fred Trueblood noted: “Mr. Karloff was out of character. In impeccable sports attire, he looked like a very dignified and benevolent college professor.” Those who knew the man who made “Frankenstein” a household name recalled that he was perhaps the sweetest and funniest man in Hollywood.
— Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was felt in the SCV. Besides all the bridges and roads that were constructed with federal depression money, the WPA authorized $70,196 to build a new auditorium for Newhall Elementary. The 8,776-square foot hall sat 642.
— Here’s a rather odd rescue story. Two families were camping out on the shores of Lake Hughes. Two teen-age daughters were sunning themselves in a dingy when one fell out. She couldn’t swim. Her friend jumped in, tried to save her, but couldn’t swim very well, either. They were about 100 feet from shore. One of the fathers heard their cries for help, dove in fully dressed and rescued his daughter’s friend, not realizing his own girl was drowning on the other side of the boat. He pulled the girl to shore. Exhausted and confused, he watched as HIS friend, father of the daughter he just saved, saw HIS daughter bobbing in the water. The second dad got there in time to see the girl disappear into the lake. He dove down several times, finally bringing her up. They thought she was dead, but by happenstance, a doctor was camping next to them, and administered CPR. Both girls’ lives were saved by fathers, but not their own.
— DuVall Chevrolet gave away a free 50-gallon barrel of gas away with every used car they sold. In 1940’s pricing, that worked out to about 10 bucks. Today, that barrel would be worth about $100. Hmm. How the heck do you tote a 50-gallon barrel of gas from the dealership?
— The Saugus branch library was so small, they used to list EVERY book they got each month in The Formerly Mighty Signal. One of the new titles? “What Ho?”
AUGUST 5, 1950 —
— All manner of law enforcement agencies were patrolling the back country of the SCV, looking for the firebug who set three fires which burned 18,000 acres and nearly took the lives of 50 Boy Scouts on a camp out. Investigators found evidence that an arsonist had purposely set the blazes.
— An offshoot of the fire was all the wildlife killed or pushed outside their ranges. Deer season was a disaster. Well. More of a disaster than usual.
AUGUST 5, 1960 —
— A group of visiting teens ran off with $250 worth of historical artifacts from the Hart bunkhouse portion of the museum. They used fishing poles to pull things off the walls.
— That huge earlier fire was still causing havoc. Ranchers reported several calf abortions when cows were traumatized by burning ashes. On top of that, farmer Oscar Flowers reported that he had a significant drop-off of milk due to the extreme triple digit heat.
AUGUST 5, 1970 —
— Newcomers wouldn’t recognize the SCV from 30 years ago. One of the big changes was there was no Highway 14. State road crews literally moved a mountain, taking billions of tons of dirt and rock out at Placerita Canyon to make room for the freeway.
— An off-duty LAPD officer, getting ready for vacation, absent-mindedly placed his service revolver on a shelf in his camper while he packed. His 5-year-old son climbed into the camper, picked up the revolver and discharged a shot, hitting his 2-year-old sister in the shoulder. She was most fortunate and healed nicely.
— Here’s something you just never see anymore. Up until the early 1970s, Basque sheephearders would graze their flocks in what is today townhouses and condominiums. Sure was a peaceful sight…
AUGUST 5, 1980 —
— We just escaped July 2010 with one of the mildest on record. It was different 30 years back. With July averaging well over 100 degrees PER DAY, and the heat wave continuing in August, Newhall Ice was doing a land rush business, selling about 10 tons a day. There were several blackouts and people tended to stay indoors.
— The gravestone of Rose Bailey was recovered. A vandal was spotted digging up the tomb market of the pioneer woman. A neighbor jotted down the subscription of the perp and his license plate number. Local Sheriff’s deputies paid a visit to the man’s house and found the marker in the home of a Northridge man. Rose’s family had run a large cattle ranch and dairy farm up Soledad Canyon by Oasis Park in the 1860s. She died in 1890.
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Once again, good spending a West Ranch Beacon Thursday with you. See you in seven and until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!
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