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A warm and Western howdy to you, dear Santa Clarita saddlepals. We’ve a most interesting trail ride ahead through the back canyons of SCV history. There’s killer bugs and our own version of Planet of the Apes. I’m going to also send this to my saddlepal, Jackie Autry about her father-in-law standing before a judge way back when. C’mon. Climb up in that saddle. There’s many interesting vistas ahead.

(CAPTION — On this date, 90 years ago, a giant hydrogen-filled dirigible landed on the Union Ranch in Saugus. Captain C.P. Clark and crew stopped over for refreshments and get their bearings. They were a bit lost. The huge airship started in Arcadia and was headed for Big Bear.) 

WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —

— Here’s some amazing cocktail party history trivia for you folks. Many of you varsity SCV lore buffs will remember Pat Lizza, head of Bermite during World War II and into the 1960s. Bermite was one of America’s foremost munitions factories during wartime. But prior to 1942, it was a fireworks factory. In fact, the Lizza (pronounced like the feminine name of “Lisa”) family went back four generations as fireworks manufacturers in Italy. Here’s the irony. You know where the Lizzas lived in Italy? In a village at the foot of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. Talk about a big fireworks display…

— We had a big mystery we were trying to solve this week. Pico Canyon oil field manager Alec Mentry of Mentryville fame died on Oct. 4, 1900. But, how? First story, from historian Jerry Reynolds, that it was from a bee sting. Another was from a bite on the lips from a love bug. Not the international computer virus or the Disney Volkswagen. Latest and best story comes from Carol Lagasse. Alec most likely died from the bite of something called the cone nose or assassin bug, which bit him on the lip while he was sleeping. Anyway. Alas and alack, some 101 years later, Alec is still dead.

— On Oct. 8, 1858, the first Butterfield stage coach passed through Newhall. It was greeted by a 100-gun (approximation) salute by local yahoos.

OCTOBER 6, 1921 —

— You teachers who complain of crowded class rooms might take heart. On this date, Miss Daugherty of Newhall Elementary had to teach 60 students in her room. Local mucky-mucks got together to discuss the possibility of hiring a second teacher.

— Signal editor Blanche Brown penned an editorial, attacking a movement in England which tried to ban athletics for girls. Some of the Brits felt exercise was bad for the fairer gender because it led to child-birthing problems later in life. Blanche called this notion, “Buncombe.”

— RE: the immediate previous vista, I’ll save you a trip to the dictionary. “Buncombe” is talk that is empty, insincere or merely for effect. It’s also a county in the south, if I remember right…

— A new house in Saugus cost around $600. That’s full price on a standard lot. A new Ford Sedan at Cliff Tucker Automotive in neighboring San Fernando cost $660. I sure wouldn’t mind if new cars and houses cost that today.

OCTOBER 6, 1931 —

— Two Los Angeles young men were killed in an odd accident. The teens were in a race car, being towed on a rope 12 feet behind another car. The car went around a corner too fast, the towed race car swung out like a water skier in front of a huge double-rig truck. According to witnesses, the sports car and its occupants were, “…crushed steam roller fashion, apparently every wheel going over them.”

— Signal editor A.B. Thatcher wondered, in his column, the Jin Jer Jar, about the future of Christianity. Thatcher pondered that if Christianity failed, “…it will be on the account of the practices of Christians, rather than the teachings of Christianity.”

— George Roberts had himself one swell long hike with a gun. The hunter got lost in the wilds of Sawmill Mountain (northeast of Castaic) for four days. He stumbled onto a forest ranger station and was he hungry, dehydrated and thirsty.

OCTOBER 6, 1941 —

— John E. Dalton had just opened up a law office in Newhall a few months earlier and he didn’t start off by making too many friends. Dalton was arrested for drunk driving. He pleaded not guilty and defended himself in front of a local jury trial. There, he accused three separate local Sheriff’s deputies of framing him and the District Attorney prosecuting him was doing so only out of political motives. Dalton even accused the judge of being against him. Story goes, Dalton was observed by two local gendarmes unsuccessfully trying to park his car on Spruce Street (today, San Fernando Road). Twice Dalton gunned his car up on the curb. He backed up, knocking over a motorcycle a half block away. On the third try, he ended up on the lawn of the Newhall Hospital. The officers gave him several sobriety tests, including having him try walking a straight line, which Dalton couldn’t do if he had held onto it. During the trial, Dalton said he had trouble parking because “… of the unusually heavy fog.” A local jury found him guilty. He was given a $75 fine and had his license suspended. Part of the problem of getting a trial in a small town was the jury was familiar with other times Dalton had been found imbibing.

— Same day in court, Delbert Autry paid a $5 fine for not having a rear view mirror. Delbert was dressed in the finest baby blue fringed cowboy garb you can imagine. Del was Gene’s dad (you know — the world-famous “Singing Cowboy?”) and unlike lawyer Dalton, the elder Autry was most polite.

— There’s money even in horse — aachoo. Excuse me. Manure. Local Sheriff’s deputies arrested a farm hand for trying to bilk a fertilizer company. He was caught taking a big load of horsey poopies in a dump truck. Back then, they just weighed the load and paid people for the rose food. Turned out the farm hand was weighing down the manure with a lot of rocks. And usually horses — the non-crazy ones — don’t eat rocks.

— RE: the above — if during this trail ride you find your mount is consuming rocks, please bring him up to the front for an exchange. As we are time traveling, the switch can be made in less than a second.

— A Mrs. Jugers hit the accelerator instead of the brake and ran completely through her Sand Canyon garage. Her rancher husband had the structure rebuilt — in stone. I imagine he must have had a small, cat-like grin every day of their marriage walking out to the garage…

OCTOBER 6, 1951 —

— Call it fate. Call it being a cheapskate. On this date, Raymond Augustus Little drove out to Paradise Ranch and attempted to take his own life. Little ran a hose from his exhaust pipe to the interior of his car. He rolled up the windows and stuffed any holes to stop ventilation. Little did everything right in his suicide attempt except for one small thing. shortly after he passed out, his big Buick ran out of gas.

OCTOBER 6, 1961 —

— Fortunately, there weren’t any yahoo hunters around. On this date, a year-old deer wandered into the garage next to Tip’s. It walked up to attendant Terry Vance and allowed itself to be petted. Soon, a small crowd had gathered and were feeding it salad. Hate to think what happened to the friendly little wide-eyed creature. Next day, the pound came and picked it up.

OCTOBER 6, 1971 —

— On this date, it was disclosed that former consultant turned attempted murderer, Chester Furgeson, had tried to kill Hart superintendent Dave Baker. The report released noted that five bullets had been fired into Baker’s district office and someone had tried to run him off the freeway the day before Furgeson had been arrested for trying to kill another superintendent, this one from Torrance. While on bail during his trial, Furgeson had committed suicide in a Fresno motel.

— Figures were in. Registered Republicans led their Democrat counterparts, 3,053 to 2,410.

— We had our own miniaturized version of “King Kong” three decades back. Pico, a 20-pound monkey, had bitten some people in Canyon Country, scampered up a roof. He was shot by one man then clubbed to death by another.

OCTOBER 6, 1981 —

— Twenty years ago this week, our dear, dear saddlepal and former mayor, George Pederson, started his command as Captain of Wayside Honor Rancho. George came full circle. He started in 1954 at Wayside. That would be as a fledgling Sheriff’s deputy, not a con. Wonder if they let George wears those dayglow orange sports coats around the prison in those days?

— On this date in history, country music station KLAC honored part of the SCV by dedicating 24 hours of broadcasting as “The City of Canyon Country Music Day.” They also tried honoring “Bud Brown, Mayor of Canyon Country City.” The jocks were a bit embarrassed to learn that Canyon Country wasn’t a city and that their own future Country Music Hall of Famer, Cliffie Stone — not the good Bud Brown — was the honorary mayor of CC.

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Sure appreciate the company on this fine early Autumn day. Shall we try another ride next Thursday, starting out right here under the serene glow of The West Ranch Beacon? Until then, dear saddlepals — vayan con Dios, amigos!