Residents, naturalists and city officials gathered Tuesday near the historic entrance to Elsmere and Whitney canyons, celebrating the designation of “La Puerta” as one of the state’s points of interest, and their respective connections to it.
The significance of “The Door” is written into Western history starting in 1769, when Gaspar de Portolá, then governor of Las Californias, first documented the area, which was mentioned by Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste in speaking about its importance.
For centuries prior, the valley acted as an important conduit for the trade routes of indigenous cultures, a link between the San Joaquin Valley, the Pacific Coast and the Mojave Desert, she said, adding the passage was also important for generations of the local Tataviam village of Tochonanga.
Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean said that, for her, the day marked the end of the Canyons Preservation Committee, which was formed in her home in 1988 with Dinah Sargeant and Doris Schiller. The group’s initial goal was to prevent a landfill that would have put millions of tons of trash in the bucolic Elsmere Canyon next door.
“The last piece of work for the SCV Canyon Preservation Committee was to achieve state historical status of ‘La Puerta,’” she said Tuesday during her public comments at the dedication.
Sandra Cattell and Dave Morrow, the vice president and president for a local group of Sierra Club members, said there are two major benefits for the city doing this.
“That means, ‘A,’ not only have we protected the area, but we’ve talked about the history and the significance of the area,” Cattell said, referring to information that will not only be posted at the trailhead there, but also online with the city and state, for people to learn more about.
Larry Schallert, a longtime resident, said he was there to enjoy what he called big wins for the city in terms of stopping development in favor of preserving green space and hiking areas.
He encouraged people to check out the nearby waterfalls, joking that that’s what pushed everyone over the edge in favor of preservation, and pointed to a nearby hutch with trail signs that his son, Eric Schallert, made nearly 20 years ago for an Eagle Scout project. There were also benches nearby along the trail.
“There’s a lot of people that really have worked to help save our history, save our lands, save who we are,” Weste said, praising a city effort she’s been a part of over the past two decades to create more than 15,000 acres of open space. “This is just another little thing that says, ‘Hey, we’ve worked a really long time, and you should know these things.’”
