We’ve a most interesting trek ahead through Santa Clarita Valley history, what with glass volcanoes, presidential candidates, Mr. Jane Fonda and a California Highway Patrol feeding frenzy.
Left foot goes in the stirrup. Bounce a little. Hop on up. If you’ve done it right, there should be a couple of pointy horse ears about 4 feet in front of you. If you’ve done it wrong, you’ll be viewing the oft-spoken horse’s patootie …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
MY PAL, SKIP NEWHALL, USED TO BE ABLE TO NAME ALL 58 OF ’EM — On Feb. 18, 1850, California was divided into the original 27 counties. Los Angeles County covered 35,000 square miles — or, about nine times its present gargantuan size. By 1910, the various counties were split and there were 58 counties. We tried twice in the 1970s to start our own. Neat name, too — Canyon County. It failed both times by a similar 65-35 margin county-wide and passed locally 35-65. The latter? Didn’t count, not one bit.
FEBRUARY 21, 1926
AIRING ONE’S CLEAN LAUNDRY — There are snippets that reveal volumes about life in a small town. One of the front-page stories that appeared on this date 80 years ago read thus: “Notice to patrons and friends of the Newhall Home Laundry, I have not given up the laundry business as has been rumored.” There you have it. Front darn page.
GETTING A LEG UP? — Same week, a Mr. Hollingshead placed a notice that he found someone’s leg and that anyone missing a leg should contact him. It being a small town, there wasn’t an address (many places out here didn’t have them then) nor did Mr. Hollingshead say whether said leg was wooden, cork, copper or real, left or right …
ALL THE WORLD’S (AND NEWHALL) A STAGE — Volunteers were putting on the finishing touches to the 1926 edifice of the Newhall Elementary Auditorium. The huge stage drapes, by the way, were a deep blue-velvet.
FEBRUARY 21, 1936
THE BIG WHOOPSIE — Question: How do you get a steam engine back on track? Answer: Not very easily. It took Southern Pacific workers a couple of days to put a multi-ton train engine back between the grooves. The big car puller slipped off the tracks at Honby and it’s not like you can use a car jack to put them back just right.
VAYA CON DIOS TO ONE OF OUR MOST FAMOUS CITIZENS — “Quirky” is a word long used to describe this valley and if there were ever a hall of fame, Henry Clay Needham would make the top 10.
He ran for the presidency, the governor’s mansion in Sacramento and U.S. Senate as a Prohibitionist over a 20-year period. Despite being one of America’s most recognizable figures and sort of the Ross Perot of his day as a third-party candidate, Needham never quite gained the popularity of his own hometown. In all his elections, he never even won the SCV vote.
He was known to be accident-prone and once spent three months in bed after being butted by his goat. He was born in 1851 in Elizabethtown, Kansas.
If you ever wondered why there’s a Kansas Street, it’s because of Henry Clay. It was Hank who authored the state measure in Kansas to make that area a dry state. He moved to Newhall in 1879 where he got involved in the lumber business. He also started the valley’s first water company, selling it to a young local historian, A.B. Perkins, in 1920.
Henry Clay had a good heart, though. A vehement anti-liquor force his entire life, during Prohibition, he would frequently pay the fines of moonshiners on the promise they would mend their evil ways. He was also a Los Angeles County supervisor in his early days. Besides being a serious presidential contender, the man was famed for starting a 10,000-acre Prohibitionist community here in Newhall in the late 19th century. It never took off. Buyers of land had to sign a proviso that if anyone — anyone — was caught drinking alcohol on a homeowner’s property, said property would go back to the seller. Not even the most fervent teetotaler wanted to take such a risk.
The good Presbyterian went to his Maker on Feb. 20, 1936. Henry Clay lived to be 84. His Needham Ranch entrance can still be seen just south of Eternal Valley on Sierra Highway. It’s where that big stone archway is right on the road.
FEBRUARY 21, 1946
THE CASE THAT WOULD NOT DIE — Lon Gamble had just been convicted in our little Newhall courthouse for pandering, kidnapping and a variety of prostitution charges. He escaped right after the verdict by vaulting over the railing and making his getaway in a swank Buick convertible. (Boy howdy, would we love to have a 1946 Buick Roadmaster convertible!) Seems the car he made his getaway in actually belonged to the famous movie star and dancer, Ann Miller. They apparently picked up the wrong cars in a parking lot earlier. Miller, by the way, would show up later in Newhall to be the emcee and chief leggy ribbon cutter for the Circle J country club out here in Newhall.
FEBRUARY 21, 1956
FROM THE ‘I’LL HUFF & I’LL PUFF’ DEPT. — On this date, Phil Oesterle was arrested, again, for threatening to blow up Newhall. Mr. Oesterle had been arrested earlier for threatening to blow up Los Angeles. All of it. Mr. Oesterle said he had an atomic bomb. He was also sought on drunk and disorderly charges, although, while threatening to level the SCV, he was sober as a judge.
PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES, SHOULDN’T … WELL. YOU KNOW. — The valley’s biggest was Thatcher Glass. They shut down every two years or so to rebuild the machinery. That meant the three daily shifts had a holiday. It was tricky work, draining out giant vats that carried molten glass.
TEEN. RETURN TO THY HOME. — Not that there was any reason for anybody of any age to be out in the SCV after dark, but, Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz was out enforcing the teen curfew. No one under 18 could be out after 10 p.m. without adult supervision. Imagine trying to enforce that one today.
FEBRUARY 21, 1966
A PRICKLY CHOICE OF CAREERS — You’ve heard of cattle thieves. Well. Sixty years back, we were beset upon by wire rustlers. Seems the brigands were stealing miles of barbed wire from local companies. Eeesh. Now there’s a crime that’s not on the local SCV gendarme rolls any more …
THE MOST UNPOPULAR CHP IN SCV HISTORY — Cap’n Sam was a dirty word to many in the SCV. The newly appointed head of the local Highway Patrol hadn’t made too many friends with his gung-ho approach to citations. In town only a year, he increased parking tickets from 69 for the 1964 year to 1,048 in 1965. That’s a 1,500% increase. Then-Signal editor Scott Newhall likened Sam McDaniel to a banana republic dictator and concentration camp commandant. Scott also noted that while parking tickets (including a bunch for not parking close enough to the curb in Placerita Canyon where there were no curbs) were up, so were traffic injuries and deaths.
FEBRUARY 21, 1976
ACTIVIST SPEAKER AT COC — On this date, Mr. Jane Fonda, former member of the Chicago 7 and also known as Tom Hayden, was at College of the Canyons. The activist had announced he would be running for the U.S. Senate. About 100 folks, including media, showed up for his talk. For those of you who don’t follow history much, Tom didn’t win. And, Jane left him.
WE LOST A FINE AND ANCIENT CRAFTSMAN — Jaroslav Krauz, 73, was killed walking across Lyons Avenue at Valley Street. Krauz had been in charge of maintaining the wagons, wheels, struts and springs at the Randall movie ranch up Railroad Canyon.
THE IGNORNING BEHEMOTH — More fuel was added to the fight between Los Angeles County and the SCV (who were in the midst of trying to break off from the behemoth and form their own county government). On this date, L.A. published “To Serve 7 Million.” It was their annual report on how the county government was functioning. Well, to many of us, not too well. Seems on the very cover of the report, L.A. had a map of their own county. Missing from it was a good portion of the SCV, Gorman, Agua Dulce and the entire Antelope Valley.
OUR ALMOST-SISTER COUNTY — A little trivia: We never did get to have our own “Canyon County.” It was defeated twice at the at-large county election by a margin of about 65-35 (interestingly, it passed locally by the reverse percentage). But there already was a Canyon County on the map — in Idaho. It was the state’s second largest borough with 61,000 people.
MORE KINDLING TO ADD TO THE LOCAL CANYON COUNTY CAMPFIRE — Local Joe Rollins was seething over the handling of his stolen car case by the L.A. County district attorney downtown. Seems Joe’s car was stolen by a multiple repeat car thief and convicted rapist. Joe’s sports car was partially wrecked. They caught the perp the same day. A few days later, the career criminal was let go with a misdemeanor joyriding ticket. Seems like this is a judicial malady that’s a daily occurrence across America today …
FEBRUARY 21, 1986
GETTING WET WHILE MAKING A CITY — Ten years later, locals were still trying to form a local government. This time, they were trying to build a city. Of all things, rain dampened the process of independence from the elephantine L.A. County. A week-long storm that dumped nearly 4 inches of rain on the valley hindered citation passers, trying to gather names for the city of Santa Clarita to be put on the 1987 ballot. (Again, for you anti-history buffs, cityhood passed.)
SPEAKING OF BEING ALL WET … — My pal Darryl Coe made the front page. A 19-year-old girl tried to cross Quigley Canyon during a downpour — IN A VOLKSWAGEN BUG. The water was up to her windows. Darryl waded out. With the help of a tow line, he carted the teen out of the floodwaters on his back. Interesting picture. The girl has a smile as big as all outdoors. Wish I had 20 bucks for every time somebody tried to get out of Quigley or Meadview during those times when Placerita Creek looks more like the Amazon. Girl’s car washed away, too, ending up in Valencia.
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Want to know a little more than something about your hometown paper, The Mighty Signal? Tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 22, I’ll be speechifying at Rancho Camulos, right off Highway 126 and just west of Chiquita Landfill and if you hit the Piru turn-off, you’ve gone too far. Topic? Former Signal owners Ruth and Scott Newhall and those wild days at this mighty newspaper I’ve been honored to serve. Production starts at noon, so get there a little early to find parking and signing in. Just a $10 voluntary donation that goes to Camulos.
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Thank you all so much for the pleasure of your company. Have a cozy day in your toasty abodes. Eat your vegetables. Be nice to one another. Buy low, sell high. Hope to catch several thousand of you tomorrow at Camulos, and, if not, see you in a week with another exciting Time Ranger adventure. Vayan con Dios, amigos!
Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist, John Boston, has launched his new eclectic bookstore — johnboston-books.com. His hilarious adventure/family/supernatural sequel to the national bestseller, “Naked Came the Sasquatch” — “Naked Came the Novelist” — is on sale now. Ditto with his two-volume “Monsters” series about the supernatural in the SCV.
