Top of a beautiful March morning to you, saddlepals. We’ve a most interesting trail ride ahead through the backroads of Santa Clarita Valley history.
This marks our 97th anniversary of the great St. Francis Dam disaster. Wow and amen boy howdy. We’re sneaking up on the centennial, aren’t we? Besides a 200-foot SCV wave, we’ve got movie stars, explosions and a Man Attacks Dog story.
There’s heavyweight champs (2), ghouls and the most amazing fish story in local history. Heck. Next to Noah and the whale this one’s in the World’s Top 5 (please send your “Fish Ain’t a Whale” letters to: Tim Whyte; Signal Fetching Mermaids & Oceanographic Editor; Random 5 numbers; yada-yada-605).
C’mon, amigos and amigo-ettes. Shall we mosey to a time less crowded and complicated?
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG HANK — One of the most important figures in SCV history died. Henry Mayo Newhall made his transition on March 13, 1882, after complications from being thrown from his horse while riding into the new town named after him just six years earlier. From his estate, The Newhall Land & Farming Co. was created by his widow and five sons.
MARCH 15, 1925
THE MANASSA MAULER, HIMSELF — World heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey moved to lower Elizabeth Lake to train on this date. Dempsey and his entourage took over Radium Hot Springs and as one Signal reporter noted of his running up and down the ridges: “He should be in condition to knock a bull off a bridge.”
FROM SAUGUS TO THE SEA — There were so many great plans that fell by the wayside. For example, the state was in long-term plans during the 1920s and 1930s to extend Mulholland Drive all the way into Newhall. All these landmarks are long gone, but the route was to go from Calabasas to Chatsworth, cut across the mountains to where Ed Davis/Towsley Park is today and follow the foothills into Saugus. On many old maps, that highway, Saugus to the Sea, there’s still a couple of dots. The makers of roads never got around to getting this far.
BLUE MOON, WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME, ALONE … — Some of you semi-old-timers will remember the Blue Moon restaurant at Castaic Junction. It used to sit across from the California Highway Patrol headquarters on The Old Road. A century ago, we had the original Blue Moon restaurant. Interestingly, the Rodgers & Hart (not our cowboy William S.) hit song, “Blue Moon,” wasn’t written until 1934.
MARCH 12, 1928
THE DAY THE DAM BROKE — As far as local history goes, this is the big daddy anniversary of them all. The St. Francis Dam failed. A few minutes before midnight, on March 12, 1928, eighteen billion gallons of water broke through the concrete wall up San Francisquito Canyon. By the time the dam drained as of dawn the next morning, nearly 500 people had died. One of the aspects of the disaster was that it changed a beautiful, scenic canyon with trees and meadows into a gutted valley. Gone were most of the shrubbery, trees and wildflowers and the topsoil to grow more.
ST. FRANCIS, II — Pierre Daries, a game warden and fire marshal in the Santa Clarita area, was one of the first rescuers into San Francisquito Canyon. He had driven across the road and atop the dam the weekend before it burst. A friend driving with him noted the vibrations from the dam and told Daries they should “… get out before the whole thing comes down.” Daries, by the way, was one of the pioneers of developing fire protection in the SCV.
ST. FRANCIS, III — Tony Raggio was another who knew the dam was unsafe. He would later inherit his family’s homestead ranch in San Francisquito Canyon. He was 13 at the time and remembered his family talking about how unsafe it was. Frank Raggio, the patriarch, moved his family into Los Angeles prior to the break, claiming it would burst at any moment. Tony, his mother and his six brothers were spared to their father’s premonition.
ST. FRANCIS, IV — Another bit of happenstance helped saved the life of Dr. Thomas Clements on the night the St. Francis burst. Clements, a geology consultant, was studying the St. Francis at the time. He usually camped out under a huge oak tree by the base of the dam. But because the dam had been leaking, he couldn’t get through the mud in his Model T. So, he motored over to higher ground in Charlie Canyon to camp out. That mud spared Dr. Clements’ life.
ST. FRANCIS, V — Of course, with nearly 500 souls losing their lives that night, not all the stories ended happily. SF Canyon resident Henry Ruiz would later grow to manhood and ironically work for the Department of Water and Power. He lost eight members of his family in the flood and never could talk about that night.
ST. FRANCIS, VI — For a while, we had a small lake caused by the dam break. At the mouth of the Santa Clara River at Castaic, a good-sized body of water formed from the wave. When it broke, a 187-foot wall of water came roaring down the canyon. It was reported to be as high as 60 feet when it reached Castaic Junction.
ST. FRANCIS, VII — I’ve got tons of St. Francis Dam anecdotes, not usually covered. (Most are in my SCV Monsters books.) Perhaps the most-grisly story is about dawn in Ventura/Oxnard, where thousands of bodies, animal to human, were bobbing in the surf. Fishermen reported a massive shark feeding frenzy and the waters turn to blood and chum.
MARCH 15, 1935
GOLD IN THEM THAR BANKS — A lot of folks made a run on the local Bank of America. Seems they got their hands on some old $10 bills. Despite the gold standard being disbanded years earlier, the notes said the government would trade them in for gold. Lots of folks didn’t have much faith in paper money during the Depression.
MARCH 15, 1945
RAPIST PROWLS PEACEFUL NEWHALL — For the second time in two months, a pretty housewife was attacked by the same rapist. The woman was beaten and her clothes ripped from her as she took out her trash in a normally calm Newhall neighborhood. Her screams brought help from the neighbors. A second search didn’t find the attacker.
MARCH 15, 1955
FAREWELL, O MIGHTY BOMB MAKER — One of the most powerful figures on the Santa Clarita landscape, Patrick Lizza, died on this date, a half-century back. Tracing his business roots four generations back to a family that built fireworks, Lizza (pronounced, “Lisa” like the lady’s name) bought the Halifax Powder Co. on Soledad Canyon Road, next to the present-day Metrolink depot. He quickly revamped Bermite over from peaceful demolitions and entertainment devices into one of America’s top producers of ordnance for World War II. Bermite churned out over 1 million 20-mm shells in just a few years. Later, they made highly volatile solid fuels for rockets. Frequently, some of their experiments, or accidents, would light up the skies of this valley and the explosions could be heard for miles.
ORIGIN OF BERMITE — After buying the Halifax Powder Co. (originally started by heavyweight boxing champ Gentleman Jim Corbett and his dad around 1900), Pat Lizza had to come up with a name for his new TNT/fireworks factory. He decided to take the name of his friend and plant manager (named Bernie) and the last syllable of dynamite. Hence, we got BER-MITE.
MARCH 15, 1965
A MIGHTY INDIAN — A stocky Hart High pitcher, Greg Garrett, opened the season by throwing a no-hitter. Garrett would later go on to pitch in the majors. After that, he became one of the strongest men in the world and competed in various international powerlifting competitions. Greg died young several years ago.
MARCH 15, 1975
CATCHING A FOUL SWING — The law folks will tell you. One of the worst calls to respond to is a family disturbance. Sheriff’s deputy Richard Young was trying to rescue a teen from his two disagreeable parents. While the husband tried to break into his patrol car, the 50-year-old wife hauled off and punched Young square in the nose. Gushing blood, Young managed to cuff the acrimonious pair. Tidbit: The deputy played for the L.A. Dodgers back in 1959 as a catcher. He went up and down in the Bigs that year, amassing a .164 batting average.
THE DAYS OF PRE-DOGE — Ah, your government at work. On this date, the abandoned Nike missile base near Bear Divide was used as a manual laborers training ground by the feds. Students were trained at the 38-acre site on such technically challenging jobs as ditch-digging. Yup. Six weeks on how to dig a ditch.
BIG TIME KUNG FU MOVIE WHOOPS — David Carradine, star of the famed cult TV hit, “Kung Fu,” was in the SCV 50 years back to film a really bad SciFi flick: “Death Race 2000.” Much of it was filmed around town, including the final race scene on old Highway 99. Dave’s car was supposed to explode. Instead, it caught fire and THEN, the gas tank blew up, starting a brush fire.
IF CANYON HIGH HAD AN OLD TESTAMENT, THIS STORY SHOULD BE INCLUDED — Here’s the best fish story of all time out here. Thirty years ago, a Canyon High student lost his class ring while boating in Lake Piru. Months later, it was returned to him. Seems a fish had swallowed it. The fish was caught. The fisherman found the ring, with the kid’s name engraved inside.
THE SUB-LAYER OF HADES — It’s amazing just how low people can sink. On this date, two women were killed in a head-on. One of the passers-by stopped and stole a silver bracelet off one of the corpses.
CLIMATE CHANGE OR WHERE YOU PUTTING THE RAIN GAUGE? — The debate about the weather may never end. The L.A. County Flood Control District, which used to keep official records out here, reported that the normal rainfall for Newhall is about 18 inches a year and just about 20 for Sand Canyon. Today, there’s another official “normal” measurement. It’s closer to 14 inches a year for the valley. Who are we supposed to believe?
MARCH 15, 1985
THOSE DARN DOBERMANS WHO SELL THE SECRETS TO THE UNIVERSE — I’ll leave you with this strange one. A 27-year-old Canyon Country man was arrested after kicking in the door of a McMillan Ranch house and trying to kill not the occupants, but their dog. A housekeeper called sheriff’s deputies, who immediately responded. When they rushed inside, they saw the man throttling a Doberman pincher’s throat and stabbing it. After a taser shot, the man continued to attack the dog and had to be physically removed from the animal. He later confessed to deputies the motive for his actions: “I came to kill the yellow dog … because he sold the secrets of the universe.”
The dog was rushed to a vet and recovered from its wounds. The man was arrested for burglary and cruelty to animals.
• • •
I want to thank you all once again for the companionship, dear saddlepals. Looking forward to another trail ride through history with you all next weekend and, until then — vayan con Dios, amigos!
Want all the gee-whiz St. Francis Dam stories? Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston hosts an eclectic online shop, bookstore and multimedia & commentary website at johnlovesamerica.com/bookstore.
