(CAPTION— President Benjamin Harrison passed through the Saugus Train Depot on April 25, 1891. He didn’t get off, folks back when tattled. He was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison and earned the nickname of “Little Ben.” BH was but 5-6. He was the first president to reach a billion dollars for the federal budget and was in office when six new states were admitted. He died of the flu in 1900.)
We’ll witness the only man (I believe) to ever be tried for trying to kill a spiny Stickleback and no, it’s not Tom Lee. Speaking of odd cases, there was the sailor who was arrested for swearing over a telephone — in his home. There’s floods, pot concerts and the world’s largest flower farm, right here in Santa Clarita.
C’mon, saddlepals. Sun’s coming up and if we’re real quiet, we can sneak up on a puma or two returning home after an evening’s dastardly deeds…
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
— April 25, 1906, the Bercaw General Store held its grand opening in Saugus. Of course, Saugus was called Surrey back then. (It’s a rather odd coincidence. While Saugus was briefly called Surrey, and William S. Hart’s middle name is Surrey, there is no apparent connection.) The folks in the tiny town were humorously divided as to exactly where they lived. For a while, a white line divided a wooden sidewalk, with Surry written on one side and Saugus on the other.
APRIL 21, 1921 —
— Our local chapter of the Camp Fire Girls held a bake sale. Yup. Raised $20.61. Used some of the money to buy a basketball. Stop the darn presses.
— The community of Sterling Heights (just north of Sand Canyon) was a booming mining community. The Sterling Mine Company put together their own jazz band, using only miners.
— I’m dedicating this one to my friend and saddlepal, Tim Whyte. It’s a poem, penned by Blanche Brown, editor of the then Mighty Signal back on this date in 1921. It’s called, “The Editor” and appropriately, goes a little something like this: “Who weeps when you are sad, And laughs when you are glad? And smiles when you are mad? The Editor. Who has to be both kind and wise, And never — well, hardly ever — lies, And when he does, excites surprise? The Editor. Who owns a heart, as well as cheek, And lives on 40 cents a week? The Editor.”
APRIL 21, 1931 —
— They sure were tough on drunk drivers around here during Prohibition. M.E. Marshall didn’t help himself copping a hostile attitude in front of our local Judge Jones. Marshall drew a 100-day jail sentence.
APRIL 21, 1941 —
— The big rodeo was just around the corner and we were preparing for plenty of guests. Check out this menu: 14 tons of beef; 43,000 rolls; a couple of tons of beans; 360 gallons of tomatoes; and, pretty much, lakes of coffee and soda pop. Charlie Ellison, head chef at the arena, had special barbecue pits constructed — 20 yards long by 10-feet wide. Over 75,000 folks would attend.
— By the by. This was the first time the rodeo was held at the old Anderson-Baker-Gibson-Eilers-Bonelli Ranch in four years. The great floods of 1937 caused the Santa Clara River to overflow its banks and wipe out the rodeo grounds and house there. “Big” Bill Bonelli, who bought the spread in 1940, refurbished the grounds and continued the tradition of holding the world-famous rodeos there.
— It was one of the most splendiferous springs we’ve ever enjoyed. The SCV was in a record rainfall year. According to some oldtimers, a “freak rain, from a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand,” dumped .02 of rain onto the valley. That bumped the season total to 45.55 inches.
APRIL 21, 1951 —
— The Korean War didn’t seem a half-world away. The Morissett family of Forrest Park received the dreaded telegram from the War Department. Their son, Donald, who had dropped out of Hart his junior year to fight in Korea, died in combat. He was 18. (By the way. Forrest Park is one of the SCV’s oldest typos. It was originally called For Rest Park. A sign painter was hired in the 1930s to come up with a new sign and sort of ran the two words together. It’s been that way for sneaking up on a century.)
— Another veteran was laid to rest from Forrest Park. Sgt. William Landalen Bluste, 90, fought against the Apaches in the Arizona Territory in 1888.
— One of our modern woes is our lack of privacy in this information age. Things weren’t much different in 1951, when a young sailor, home on leave, was arrested for cussing over the telephone. Evidently, local telephone operator, Holly Hubbard, was eavesdropping while the young seaman was using blue language over the phone. She patched the call in to the local sheriff’s office, who sent out a patrol car to his home in Mint Canyon. Terrible footnote about Holly. Several years later, her little compact car would explode on Sierra Highway and she was burned alive while running down the road.
APRIL 21, 1961 —
—Fifty years and a day ago, Placerita Junior High was dedicated. Not counting the joint schools at Hart, Placerita was the valley’s first junior high. Placerita was to be opened in the fall of 1960, but steel strikes delayed the date.
— On this date, the General Association of Regular Baptists of Los Angeles announced they had purchased a 28-acre site in Placerita Canyon to start a liberal arts and theological seminary college. Price of the prime land was $152,000. Much of the school — which would be first called Los Angeles Baptist College and then later be called The Master’s College — was carved out of the old Happy Jack Ranch, owned by the Ingersoll family and by the Jack Nelson spread. LABC would open in the fall with 100 students. Its president was Dr. John Dunkin. Dr. Dunkin is the grandfather of Lakers star, Mike Penberthy.
— Lilacs bloom in a very narrow window of opportunity and this time of year, they were blossoming in the thousands. There was a place in Acton called the Colombo Lilac Ranch. It was a favored tourist attraction and was the largest producer of cut lilacs in the world. Interesting story about this place. It’s owner, Chris Colombo, came from Italy when he was 12 and worked barefoot in the local mines for 16 cents a day. When he was 17, Chris and a friend started working in the flower business during the Depression. Chris, with a starting capital of $1.50, started the lilac ranch by obtaining a 10-year lease with an option to buy. The notary paperwork took $1 of the $1.50 of his venture capital. With the other four bits, Chris went to L.A. and bought the first lilacs. He worked for 10 years in the L.A. flower market, coming back to Acton on weekends to tend to his ranch, which had well over a million flowers.
APRIL 21, 1971 —
— A local newspaper inadvertently set a world record for the cost of a shock absorber. Canyon Ford ran an ad with us and we misplaced a decimal point. The special noted: “Heavy duty shock, installed, for only $1295.” They made the correction on the front page.
— The residents of Agua Dulce held a meeting to protest a proposed “Rock for Pot” mega concert that would have brought over 250,000 rock fans and pro-marijuana supporters to the sleepy Western community. It was a rather heated gathering. Newhall Sheriff’s captain Joe Enger spoke to the throngs of neighbors, noting: “As far as firearms go, I am against their use, especially if yo don’t know how to use them, because they can be taken away and used on you.” Hm. I’m betting just about everyone in Agua Dulce in 1971 knew how to use a firearm. Enger’s quotes were a journalist’s delight. Here, he describes the kind of person who attends a rock concert and their danger to the neighborhood: “Principal crimes committed by these types are petty theft, stealing and killing chickens to eat and setting fires.” One AD oldtimer jumped up and yelled: “WHY CAN’T WE USE OUR GUNS?” Enger replied: “I’m not telling your to get rid of your guns, but if you shoot someone, there will be a terrific investigation.” Enger noted how police authority had been hampered by the courts in recent years and that five years earlier, they could have just stopped the pot concert before it happened. Another vigilant resident jumped to his feet and yelled: “Give the law back to the lawmen; forget this police brutality junk and beat their heads in!!” The folks of Agua Dulce were still one step ahead of pot concert promoter William Smart. Smart had planned to fly in around 200 rock bands and pro-pot lecturers to the little Agua Dulce Airport. The owner of the airport smiled and guaranteed that if the concert were ever held, no matter what day, the airport would be closed. The concert, by the way, was never held.
— We might want to see if we can lug a bit of some of that 1971 petrol back in our saddlebags. We had a gas war here. Regular gas was just 30 cents a gallon. That almost makes me want to cry.
APRIL 21, 1981 —
— Guy Welch was charged with endangering our beloved inch-long Spiny Stickleback fish. Seems he altered a bit of the Santa Clara River for his development up Soledad. Welch faced a $500 fine and six months in jail. Welch went before a jury on the charges and the finally scorecard read: “Man 6, Fish 6.” After eight grueling hours, the jury split down the middle and the county D.A. refused to retry it.
— On this date, 30 years back, the Hart Mansion was listed as a significant historical landmark by Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr., aka, Pat Brown, aka, Gov. Moonbeam.
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Well. That about wraps it up for this Thursday’s trail ride. I surely appreciate your company, saddlepals. See you next week right back here under the warming glow of The West Ranch Beacon with another exciting Time Ranger adventure and, until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!