It’s a perfect morning to do a little exploring in the dimensions of yesteryear.
We’ll investigate a prank that went deadly wrong and go chasing the Hot Pants Bandita.
There’s ghosts, fires, movie stars and atom bomb shelters. We’ve got an adventure-packed time ride ahead. So, shall we swing that leg up and over and head into history?
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —
— It was moving day for the old Pioneer Oil Refinery. They switched headquarters near the old Lyon Station off present-day Sierra Highway and San Fernando Road to Pine Street. That was on August 1, 1876. They were the first successful oil refinery in California. The site is still there and is a state historical landmark.
— On this date in 1891, the Surrey Post Office was founded in Saugus. For a short time, Saugus was called, “Surrey.” In an odd and unrelated coincidence, Surrey is also the middle name of William S. Hart.
— For you new Yuppies living in Plum Canyon, it wasn’t always called such. For well over a century, the place was the source of many rumors about ghosts and murders. The Spaniards used to call the place, Canon de los Muertos — Canyon of the Dead.
— This isn’t so much way-back, but it is peaceful. On an average street today, the noise level is around 100 decibels. It can get as high as 175 for arguments or airplanes flying overhead. But, for sitting under a pine or hemlock and listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze, that’s only about 12 decibels. My kind of noise…
AUGUST 4, 1921 —
— Tom Mix was finishing up shooting, no pun intended, his silent Western, “Trailin’” at the old stone house on the Wertz Ranch, south of town in what used to be the boundaries of the Santa Barbara National Forest. One of the last scenes in the film was the burning down of the ranch house. They had 20 firemen and more volunteers ready with shovels, buckets and a water truck just in case the flames from the home got out of control. Guess Tom Mix must have paid extra to burn down the Wertz residence.
— Speaking of fires, Frank England saw a real one. He had just bought some land in Oak Canyon. Carpenters had just unloaded several truckloads of building material for the new house, but, before they could start construction, they had to get rid of a large swarm of pesky wasps in a nearby tree. Yup. Poor Mr. England hired the dumb kind of carpenters. They tried burning the wasps out and succeeded, along with burning up several hundred acres of brush and some rather expensive lumber turned to kindling wood they had just unloaded.
AUGUST 4, 1931 —
— The mailman married the Barber. Well. Miss Mary Barber. Rural postman Bert Tysell tied the knot on this day. Bert drove the back roads of Saugus for over 40 years. His strangest delivery was a cow, C.O.D.
— Nothing like a great Depression to make the roads smooth. Locals were noting, that with so many men on the government dole, all the public works projects in the SCV resulted in the local roads — both dirt and paved — had never been in finer condition.
AUGUST 4, 1941 —
— Some of you time pals will either have to be rather, ahem, “varsity” or adept film buffs to recall this gang. On this date, Banner Pictures was in town, filming an episode of “The Dead End Kids.” The movie company transformed Ope Houghton’s post office and turned it into an eastside New York City locale. Then, the gang moved over to the Monogram lot (Melody Ranch) to finish the pix.
— The Brits invaded Saugus on this date. About 100 officers from the Royal Air Force were here at Newhall International Airport (around where Granary Square is today) to learn how to fly fighter planes. They were stationed here for 20 weeks.
— Harold Sutherland, identifying his occupation as, “hobo,” was arrested south of the Saugus train depot on this date. He was viewed to be quite drunk. Arresting officers Waldrip and Brooks chose the more 1941 politically correct phrase for being intoxicated. They referred to it in their report as: “…carrying a large load of poles.”
— It’s odd how we stumble into our careers. There was this story about how Sand Canyon rancher Steve Swanton was having a rather loud verbal argument with his wife. Steve’s 19-year-old son, Jelmer, came into the room, did not like his dad speaking to his mom in such tone, substance and volume and decked his dad. Steve, grinning from ear to ear, bounced up and hugged his kid. Some of you old ring enthusiasts might recognize Steve’s ring name: Kid McCoy. Steve, aka, Kid McCoy, started his son training and soon, Jelmer became a professional prizefighter. Hope Steve hugged his wife…
AUGUST 4, 1951 —
— The old Harry Carey Horseshoe Ranch up San Francisquito Canyon changed hands. Again. The Careys had sold their property years earlier. It finally ended up in the hands of the Clougherty Packing Company of Los Angeles through a bankruptcy sale. During eviction of the ranch’s occupant, one Mr. Arthur Shivell, attorney AND gunsmith, Mr. Shivell was arrested on a variety of charges. Local police cuffed him for having an arsenal of exotic weapons in his car (in which he was living — how would that give you confidence in your attorney?). He was also indicted for possession of several rhinoceros horns.
— Here’s a really bizarre truck accident for you. Teamster Walter Warne lost the brakes on his big lumber rig and it was roaring out of control going down the Five Mile Grade in Castaic. Going faster and faster, Warne was going to take a chance at bailing out when he heard a blast from a semi behind him. The truck drew next to Warne and the driver motioned for the young trucker to jump on the running board. In a rather dramatic stunt, Warned guided the steering wheel while balancing outside the truck, then vaulted to the vehicle of the Good Samaritan. Just as Warne jumped, his truck went off the side of the road and crashed, turning his load into flaming tooth picks. Warne survived without a scratch, but never learned the name of his rescuer.
— A sudden late July downpour missed most of the SCV, but sent flash floods through Agua Dulce and Bouquet Canyons. Many homes and businesses were damaged and one resident had to abandon his car and swim for his life when he got stuck in a low spot on Sierra Highway. Landslides and floods closed many local roads and we also lost a Barbara Ann bread truck.
— If this wasn’t so sad, it’d be funny. I guess we’ve been getting warnings about not having enough schools for quite some time. On this date, local district superintendents and community leaders got together to assess the state of our local campuses. The consensus was that with the “coming population explosion,” a major crisis was on the horizon. Locals were asked to float bond measures and acquire land for future schools before the land became too expensive or was bought up by developers. And this was 40 years ago. Prophetic…
— Leo Bourdon opened up a new company in Saugus called Fox Hole Shelters. They were these bon-bon looking steel-reinforced concrete enclosures you buried in your back yard. Folks were starting to call these new inventions, “Atomic Fallout Shelters.” For $3,000 (about a third the cost of a small home in 1961), Bourdon would dig the hole in your back (or front) yard and insert these pre-made cement igloos. They weighed about 14 tons and Bourdon threw in some cots, a chemical toilet, breathing filtration system, shelves, flash light, radio and first aid kit. Bourdon had been in the swimming pool business and blamed Russian dictator Nikita Khrushev for getting him into a new business, for which he sunk $150,000 of his own money.
— Here’s some extreme trivia for you. Who was the first-ever foreign exchange student in the SCV? That would be John Bech, from Norway. He was the first exchange student brought over by the American Field Service.
AUGUST 4, 1971 —
— Despite an influx of civilized folks, horse thievery was alive and well in Santa Clarita. On this date, some rustlers made off with Audrey Richardson’s sorrel mare in broad daylight. While stealing a person’s horse carried a death-by-hanging penalty in the Old West, in 1971, it meted out only a 1-to-10 year prison sentence.
— She was a pistol-packing mama, all right. On this date, the Hot Pants Bandit struck again. This time, the woman, described as 30-35 years old and wearing hot pants (and, yes, a top) was seen breaking into an Agua Dulce home. She reportedly stole a .35 caliber revolver.
— It’s not like we haven’t been warned. On this date, a front-page Scott Newhall editorial lamented that local developers put profits ahead of people and community by building cookie-cutter cut-rate houses instead of homes.
AUGUST 4, 1981 —
— Four young men were arrested for the death of a motorcyclist several months earlier. The boys had strung a thick construction net across Placerita Canyon Road. Dean Ashton, 27, crashed into the net and died. A fifth boy who was reported involved in the prank gone terribly wrong was not around to be arrested. He had apparently killed himself the day after Ashton died. Ironically, the boy ran over a cliff in Acton on his own motorcycle.
— Guy Kenneth Welch was on the hook. Again. Welch made his spot in history by being accused as the only person ever to be arrested for killing the endangered Spiny Stickleback, a little fish that lives in the Santa Clara River and some of its tributaries. Welch had beat charges earlier in the year in a hung jury. The District Attorney decided not to retry Welch. But new charges were brought when Welch rechanneled the river to fill up his man-made lake at the White Rock resort.
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See all you time riders next Sunday with a brand new Time Ranger adventure, and, until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!