We’ll go visit one of America’s best dressed men — a local, believe it or not, Marlee Lauffer. There’s August fires and floods, locals setting world records, and, get this one.
Canyon Country may be part of the moon. No. Seriously.
This is one of our oddest and best time adventures, so you don’t want to mix one single vista, dear saddlepals.
(CAPTION: — Ever wonder where Santa Clarita came from? On August 10, 1769, while camped out in Castaic with explorer Gaspar de Portola, Father Juan Crespi named the major river running through this valley, the St. Clare, after the feast day for that saint. She was one of the first followers of St. Francis of Assisi (after whom San Francisquito Canyon is named) and the Italian’s real name is Chiara Offreduccioi, founder of the Order of Poor Ladies, a radically austere group. Interesting, her order was nicknamed the Poor Clares. So, if you know anyone named “Clare” or “Claire” or better, “Éclair,” take a moment to place a hand upon their shoulder, look into their eyes with compassion and say: “Poor Clare…” Ms. Offreduccioi was canonized on Aug. 15, 1255 by Pope Alexander IV. Her remains are held today in Basilica di Santa Chiara in the central Italian town of Assisi. (Think we could borrow her skeleton for the 4th of July parade?) Her feast day is Aug. 11th. Think the City of Santa Clarita just MIGHT want to have some sort of mention of the person after whom they chose to name themselves? Here. I’ll write it again, only louder, and in purple, because we’re dealing with bureaucrats: Think the City of Santa Clarita just MIGHT want to have some sort of mention of the person after whom they chose to name themselves? And, double ditto for the scv historical society.)
Into the mystic we go…
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
— He was the first recorded white person to enter the Santa Clarita Valley and he entered the SCV through Newhall Pass on August 8, 1769. The valley would never be the same after that.
— Abraham Lincoln refused to ratify Edward Fitzgerald Beale as the country’s surveyor general, noting, the general, “… tends to become master of all he surveys.” On August 8, 1855, Beale purchased the huge Rancho La Liebre just north of here for a few pennies an acre.
— Fort Tejon was established on August 10, 1854.
— The Del Valle family ended their long stay on their beautiful rancho. On August 10, 1924, Reginald del Valle sold the Rancho Camulos.
— Happy birthday to our famed outlaw, Tiburcio Vasquez. He was born on August 11, 1835, in Monterey. (His house is still there, too!) The womanizing bandit was a Leo, a sign known as wanting to be the center of attention and dominant, they hate being ignored and want to lead as opposed to follow. That’s our Tibby.
— On this date in 1871, The Elizabeth Lake School District was formed.
— Same day, five years later in 1876, the first train roared through the brand new Newhall Train Tunnel — one of the longest in the world.
AUGUST 11, 1921 —
— King Collins sold his Newhall Bus service on this date. King became a local sheriff and Henry Mangold took on the livery business. The crown jewel in the taxi service was a 9-passenger Packard.
AUGUST 11, 1931 —
— The hills and valleys in Saugus were pummeled by fire and flood — in the same week. A large brush fire burned 2,500 acres in the Bouquet and Spunky canyons area. A few days later, a rare early August thunderstorm dumped several inches of rain, flooding San Francisquito.
— Southern California Gas Company was touting something not exactly new, but new to Newhall. SoCal Gas was pushing a new line of hot water heaters, the miracle of which was that “Heated water comes right out of your faucet. There is nothing to light, nothing to wait for, nothing to watch. Hot water is ready, waiting, any time you want it.”
AUGUST 11, 1941 —
— Newhall Land & Farming heir Peter McBean was voted one of the 10 best dressed men in San Francisco on this date.
— Deer season opened on this date, 60 years back. Some 3,900 registered hunters reported taking 228 bucks the first weekend. The hills were alive with gunfire and dead with deer. Frank Vasquez of Val Verde had the biggest buck, tipping the scales at 215 pounds.
— The two young sons of Helsie Melter got a whipping for their enterprise. Mrs. Melter’s sons had been warned about chewing gum and getting it stuck on things. So, Mrs. M cut off their supply. The owner of a local Canyon Country cafe called the Sand Canyon mother and said he had captured the lads in the act of stealing gum and chewing it — from the bottom of the coffee shop stools. I mean, yick.
— I’m pretty sure we don’t sell these any more up at the front desk, but 60 years back, The Mighty Signal earned a small but comfortable and regular stipend, selling “NO HUNTING” signs. I guess there’s no need to post those on the townhouses and condos…
AUGUST 11, 1951 —
— Dawn was greeted by gunfire from some 17,000 hunters on opening day of deer season in the SCV. First weekend, the hunters managed to down 168 bucks. Fish & Game also released the hunter mortality stats from 1950 the same week. Year before, 19 men were killed in hunting accidents, with 54 seriously injured.
AUGUST 11, 1961 —
— On this Sunday, 40 years back, Our Lady of Perpetual Help held their first services in the new parish and church on Lyons Avenue. For those of you Catholics who are reading this column and are not presently nor have been in church this morning, that’ll be three Our Fathers, 10 Hail Marys and a whole lot of push-ups. By the way. Our Lady Of Perpetual Help parish was founded on January 17th, 1915. Priests from Mission San Fernando would come up to hold services — some of them in the old Saugus train depot.
— A lightning storm struck the SCV, knocking out 15 SoCal Edison transformers and damaging lots of phone equipment. According to one customer, his phone rang every time lightning flickered.
— “Snow White & The Three Stooges” was the premier flick at the American Theater. Say their old cattle lullaby with me: Woob-woob. Woob-woob-woob-woob…
AUGUST 11, 1971 —
— It was one of the strangest highway fatalities on record, certainly the strangest one involving a dog. Jan Schurr of North Hollywood had pulled off Sierra Highway. A good Samaritan had noticed her zigzag driving and pulled in behind her, offering assistance. When asked if she were having trouble, Mrs. Schurr told the unidentified motorist: “Yes. I’m drunk.” She had a full-grown Great Dane with her and excused herself to crawl down an embankment to relieve herself. Her leashed dog helped her climb back up the incline, then continued to cross the road, dragging her behind him. She was hit by a semi doing about 50 miles an hour and was killed instantly. The dog survived without injuries.
— On this date, the very last load of fill dirt was added to the top of Southern California’s largest man-made lake — Castaic. Ruben Schwab was the driver of the mega dump truck. Engineers and dignataries added nickels, dimes and quarters to the load and the press snapped pictures. The throwing of money onto the dam was the idea of engineer, Ake Jaskar, who explained it was a custom in dam building in Asia. That last trip was the culmination of over 1 million dump truck loads that raised the dam to its 425-foot height. Eventually, Castaic would have 34 miles of shoreline and would suck in water from the Feather River about 550 miles away.
— It was one of the strangest highway fatalities on record, certainly the strangest one involving a dog. Jan Schurr of North Hollywood had pulled off Sierra Highway. A good Samaritan had noticed her zigzag driving and pulled in behind her, offering assistance. When asked if she were having trouble, Mrs. Schurr told the unidentified motorist: “Yes. I’m drunk.” She had a full-grown Great Dane with her and excused herself to crawl down an embankment to relieve herself. Her leashed dog helped her climb back up the incline, then continued to cross the road, dragging her behind him. She was hit by a semi doing about 50 miles an hour and was killed instantly. The dog survived without injuries.
— Here’s some extreme trivia for you. The moon (ours) may have come from Canyon Country. Visiting scientists noted that the Soledad Canyon area was rich in the rare mineral, Anorthosite, which is also found on the moon. The mineral — called “Genesis Rock” because it formed part of the Earth’s and moon’s ancient crusts — was discovered in near 100 percent purity near present day Sand Canyon and Highway 14. Anorthosite is more commonly known as plagioclase, a snow-white mineral that almost glows in daylight. It was a stretch, but the visiting rock doctors from UCLA thought there was a half-way decent chance that 4.6 billion years ago, when the moon broke away from the earth, it came from the northern part of the SCV. How about that for ancient history?
AUGUST 11, 1981 —
— Two local men — Geoff Bertoldo of Newhall and Kent Tarver of Canyon Country — made the Guinness Book of World Records. The pair circumnavigated part of the perimeter of America, starting in Boston and landing in the little San Fernando Airport. They logged about 5,000 miles in 14 days. They flew a single-prop Cessna. What made it worthy of GBWR is the pair set a record for flying the greatest distance while pulling a 200-foot-long banner. The banner was so huge, the boys had to use a second plane and an elaborate hook set-up where they flew low and yanked the banner off the ground. They beat the old record of 800 miles. You’re probably wondering what exactly was ON the banner — it was a promotion for the film, “Beatlemania.” FYI. The flight wasn’t continuous. The boys barn-hopped along America.
— Local authorities rained on Bob Morris’s parade. Well. Actually, his house. Morris’s modest Canyon Country abode had been on the market for over a year. No takers. So, Morris came up with the idea of raffling off his home. Morris tried to print 1,250 tickets and sell them at $100 per. Winner gets his house. Problem was, the law said Morris was holding an illegal raffle and would be arrested if he went through with his idea. Couldn’t tell you if Bob has sold his house yet…
— At these prices, who could afford a car? Tom Carrell Chevrolet was offering “SPECIAL!” 13.8 percent GMAC financing. Ouch.
— — —
Well here we are, back in modern times. Sure appreciate the company, dear saddlepals. Looking forward to seeing you all (or, in Texican: “Y’all all”) back here at The Beacon next Thursday with another exciting Time Ranger adventure. Until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!