Amen boy howdy. The thermometer gods have been most kind so far this July. Almost August and it’s been downright pleasant and then some. We’ve a most interesting trek ahead into the back trails of Santa Clarita Valley history.
Today, this very Saturday, we’ll be making sure to keep our boots dry — July flash floods up ahead. There’s bomb scares, rogue California Highway Patrol captains and attack of the killer bees up Mint Canyon way.
C’mon.
A little heel to the horse’s ribs. They’re big. They don’t mind …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
PULLING ALL THE MINERALS OUT OF THE SCV — The Civil War seemed a million miles away in the SCV. A monumental copper discovery along the Santa Clara River brought miners searching the banks. Beautiful copper ingots, shaped like leaves and lined with silver, were being pulled out in the hills from modern Canyon Country up to Acton. Huge wagon convoys carrying gold, silver, copper and quartz rumbled out of the valley to Oxnard and then up mostly to San Francisco. An L.A. paper suggested creating a big tunnel from the San Fernando Valley to Newhall so that the ore wouldn’t be lost to the Buenaventura area. Scruffy miners were selling their claims for anywhere from $20,000 to a quarter million to San Francisco businessmen and speculators.
JULY 24, 1925
FLASH FLOODS UP BOUQUET — Vineyardist A.P. Tally had part of his grape crop ruined. Of all things, a rare July cloudburst caused a flash flood up Bouquet Canyon, which overran the creek and flooded his fields with mud and debris.
FLASH FLOODS UP ACTON-AGUA DULCE —The same storm wreaked havoc in Agua Dulce and Acton. When George Schaefer came home, he found his house was filled with 4 feet of water. He also lost a few hundred chickens and turkeys in the flood.
GIVE THE GUY A RAISE, JESS! — Normally, when the boss is away, the staff will play. But 100 years back, Ford dealer owner Jesse Doty, personal great-grandfather of my personal treat patrol pals, Genene and John, went on vacation. When Jess came back, his salesman, Mr. Tucker, sold a then-SCV record of five cars in one week (three new, two used). Heavens. That’s not bad in 2025 …
WHEN THE NEW ROAD WASHED OUT TO SEA — A travel writer noted about the changes in the new San Francisquito Road. They moved the original highway a couple of hundred feet above the floor. Eventually, the road would cross the St. Francis Dam, which was under construction. As you all know, almost as soon as it was filled, the thing burst in 1928, killing 500 people, maybe more …
GUESS THEY DIDN’T WANT ANY SCV BUSINESS — The Mighty Signal editorialized that the community desperately needed a movie theater. The closest was in San Fernando. Wonder if there was some sort of feuding going on. That week, the Cody Theatre in San Fernando didn’t advertise …
JULY 24, 1935
DEPRESSION-ERA FINANCIAL NUMBERS — Call me daft, but I just love going over some of the old school budgets, especially during the Depression era. Don’t moan. They weren’t hard to read. The Castaic District budget fit nicely on one page, with room to spare. Not counting salaries, it cost just $60 to run the administration. Payroll was $4,680 — that’s for everybody, for the entire year. Total expenditures were a shade over 13 grand.
THEM BIG SPENDERS AT NEWHALL ELM — Meanwhile, those big spenders across the valley at Newhall Elementary District (back when it was just the one school) made do with a mere budget of $7,624 — that’s everything, salaries, plant operation and capital outlays. It cost them $75 a year to run their library.
GUESS THEY USED A SMIDGE TOO MUCH DYNAMITE — On this date, Canyon Country rancher Jim Lambert filed a complaint against the state. Seems the road crews, using prison road gangs, were blasting away, building the Soledad Canyon Road improvement. A heavy shower of rock and debris flew almost a quarter-mile onto his property, injuring livestock and a ranch hand.
EVEN THE BIG BAD WOLF COULDN’T BLOW DOWN THE NEW SWALL — Speaking of projects, they were putting the finishing touches on the new Swall Hotel. The old one burned down. The new one was made of brick.
IT’S EMINENT DOMAIN CUZ WE SAY SO — Today, some folks are worried about the city using eminent domain to obtain properties from recalcitrant landowners. There was one property owner on the main drag who refused to go along with the state’s widening of present-day Main Street, right real darn close where they’re going to tear down one of the last and certainly most historical buildings in the SCV.
JULY 24, 1945
BETTER THAN A FALLEN WOMAN — Folks in Sand Canyon found what they thought was a Japanese bomb balloon. The Empire of the Sun had launched thousands of them toward the end of World War II so they could float the high air currents over the Pacific and land on the West Coast of the United States. Farmer Morgan Buchanan found a suspicious device, but it turned out to be a fallen weather balloon.
KABLOOEY WENT MY HEART — Speaking of bomb scares, the gendarmes were called in to investigate a suspicious bottle left at Alf Clark’s Solemint Store. Detective Chuck Kelley was called to remove a bottle with the label: “NITROGLYCERINE.” Turned out it was filled with little white tablets for someone’s heart condition. Locals reported they all needed one of the pills to come down from the scare.
THE POOR VET. THE POOR DEPUTY SHERIFF. — This may have been the only time this has happened in the history of the local sheriff’s department. But on this date, a deranged man killed himself in the old Substation 6 on San Fernando Road. Joe Morrison, a World War I vet, asked for a cigarette from deputy W.H. Hammond. While Hammond was lighting the smoke, Morrison grabbed his service revolver, pushed him away and fired one shot through his own chest. The bullet passed all the way through and lodged in a door frame.
KILLER BEES — More details came in from the bee attack in Mint Canyon. A beekeeper’s truck broke down and he just left it on the side of Sierra Highway. The swarms left and settled in the John Redmond ranch. Not only did they sting every member of the family several times, they killed 56 turkeys and almost as many chickens, drove off a saddled horse (who didn’t come home for three days) and a cow with udder filled with milk. The cow never came back.
THE FIRST HOME OF THE MIGHTY INDIANS — Technically, the first campus of Hart High School was at Newhall Elementary. It housed three buildings for ninth graders only. John Kieth, of Los Angeles, won the bid to build those three units for a total price of $14,974. Meanwhile, plans for the permanent Hart campus down the street continued. On the original sketches, the district left land for experimental gardens. Hart also used to have that beautiful front entrance with the arcing driveway. Now, as is the custom in these hectic times, the driveway is jammed with these rather ugly temporary buildings. The spider webs we build for ourselves …
OLD TESTAMENT BLIGHT IN THE SCV — Literally on this day, 80 years back, the potato harvest began. The area had been hit by a series of unusual events — heat, cold and flooding. The poor melon and tomato crop had even been blighted by locusts.
HOOFING IT — Here’s some trivia for you. The valley’s first shoe store opened on this date on the 600 block of old Spruce Street. That’s Main Street today. Monty Petralia set up the place to fill Santa Clarita’s shodding needs.
JULY 24, 1955
RADIOACTIVE. AND … STUPID. — Funny how you need permits and licenses for just about anything (even in the 1950s) but you don’t need any stamp of approval to be a parent. A half-century back, a Los Angeles aerospace worker brought his two small children, ages 5 and 7, to go — get this — uranium hunting — with him in the treacherous Piru Gorge. The family got lost — during a triple-digit heat wave — and had to be rescued by a search and rescue squad. A day later, the party found the trio, unharmed, but a little tired.
SNAKES ALIVE!! — Helen Baker shot her second rattlesnake within 24 hours. That might be a record. The first was by her mailbox. The second was under her picnic table.
JULY 24, 1965
OL’ McDONALD HAD A TICKET BOOK, EE-ii-EE-ii-OOOO — The war amongst the citizens of the SCV and The Mighty Signal vs. the CHP escalated. This newspaper accused the CHP of going on a “Reign of Terror” in writing useless parking citations. Statistics tended to support TMS. While moving violations gradually rose with the population, parking tickets skyrocketed — from 47 in the valley for the entire year of 1962 to 758 for just the first six months of 1965. Locals blamed a new gung-ho Capt. Sam McDonald for the zeal.
One businessman noted: “It comes to where you see a man in uniform and you know he’s going to try and find something to cite you for.” Another prominent citizen likened the behavior to czarist Russia. McDonald had previously captained in the Antelope Valley. When contacted by The Signal, spokesmen for the AV said they breathed a sigh of relief when Captain Sam left. “We’ve been depressurized,” said an AV community leader. “Things are getting back to normal.”
JULY 24, 1975
GRUMPY DUMBO — On this date, Bamboo, a half-grown 3,000-pound elephant at Magic Mountain, lashed out at its trainer, hitting her with its trunk and goring her. Beverly Lamping was rushed to the hospital with serious wounds, including an exposed jugular vein. Handlers speculated the pachyderm stepped on a nail and blamed it on Lamping.
NEXT THEY’RE GOING TO TRY CHANGING THE HART MASCOT TO SOMETHING MORE POLITICALLY CORRECT — Every few years, some foolhardy soul over at the William S. Hart High School District brings up a plan to change the name of the district. One community leader suggested the cold oatmeal handle of Santa Clarita Unified High School District. Where do we get these people?
WILD GUESS? WE’RE THINKING MOST IN ATTENDANCE ARE NO LONGER WITH US — The Santa Clarita Senior Citizen Center opened its doors 50 years ago. Back then, it was over on Arch Street, across the tracks as you go on Placerita Canyon Road, in a little storefront.
JULY 24, 1985
IT’S OK. THEY HAD CABLE. — A Castaic woman faced charges of child endangerment. Apparently, she would sometimes leave her 14-month-old baby at their mobile home, alone, while she tended bar at The Country Girl.
OUR EASYGOING, STRESS-FREE POKEY — How times change. Originally, the Castaic jail was called the Wayside Honor Rancho and was home to white-collar and other “harmless” criminals. It was later renamed Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho and soon, the “Honor Rancho” part sort of fell off the sign as the hoosegow accommodated hardened and dangerous criminals. On this date, a major riot occurred at the jail. Several dozen prisoners and three deputies were injured in the melee divided along racial lines between Black and Hispanic inmates.
AND HE STILL OWES ME 20 BUCKS! — Happy anniversary to my pal, historical conscience and former Signal publisher, Tony Newhall. A mere four decades back, Tony was named SCV Man of the Year.
• • •
While summer is hardly my favorite season, I surely cannot complain about the company. Thanks for joining me in another exciting and interesting trail ride through Santa Clarita lore, history and monkey business. See you back here at The Mighty Signal hitching post next Saturday with another profoundly entertaining and educational Time Ranger adventure. Until then — vayan con Dios, amigos!
With more than 11,000 columns and 100-plus awards (119!), Santa Clarita’s John Boston is the most prolific humorist/satirist in world history. Look for his long-awaited sequel to “Naked Came the Sasquatch” — “Naked Came the Novelist” coming out this fall.
