You might notice that big, huge commercial blue trash bin at the end of the stables. Do drop your excuses about how you need to sleep in and recover from a major, green, T-rex bender from St. Patrick’s Day because it was four darn days ago.
Nothing works better to clear the head than to ride through a time vortex and visit yesterdecade’s vistas.
This morning, we’ve got a local tie-in to a presidential candidate’s assassination, along with the usual pistol fighters, our personal King Kong Wall and a look at when Daniel Boone worked in Newhall. Well. Canyon Country.
There’s also our only known local incident when a mouse shot a man, some punk snipers and the killing of an epic giant. Heck. We’ve even got Gayle Johnson-Becker, aka, John Denver.
I should probably just stop talking and start riding. Giddy and an up, por favor …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
PRONTO — Shall we all tip our Stetsons in a moment’s silence? It was 151 years ago, right after lunch, they hanged the legendary womanizing road agent and pistol fighter Tiburcio Vasquez up in San Jose. His last words? “Pronto.” Those other-worldly rocks in Agua Dulce still carry the outlaw’s name.
ROBBERS’ ROCKS — Speaking of Tibby, few folks know this one. Up until the 1930s, Vasquez Rocks was also known as, “Robbers’ Rocks.”
AN EARLY JUVENILE DELINQUENT COMMUNITY LEADER — The first Newhall Elementary School campus was actually a refurbished bunkhouse on the Lyon Ranch near Pico Canyon. The first class was held in 1878. Addi Lyon was son of Sanford Lyon (after whom Lyons Avenue is named — along with Sanford’s twin brother, Cyrus, the famed gunfighter). Addi recalled attending that first bunkhouse school a year before the first “official” campus was dedicated. Young Master Lyon recalled having to wear a dunce cap one day. He bolted for the door with the teacher in hot pursuit. Addi grabbed a hoe and chased the teacher back inside. She locked him out.
ADD IT TO THE SIGNAL WORSHIP DIRECTORY — The Indians of old Southern California, from the Bixby Ranch near Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley, mostly practiced a religion that was called Chinigchinish. Not much is known if this worship jumped over the hill to include our Tataviams.
We have deduced that the local Tataviams may have practiced some sort of ritual celebrating death and beyond. The Indian remains here showed that the dead were folded at the hip and knees and buried with broken personal kettles. Over the hill in Chatsworth, the Indians may have buried relatives when a chief died. There is no evidence of that up here. There may have been, however, an annual mourning ritual on the Winter Solstice.
Some of the last Tataviams, or, as they were called for nearly a half-century, Allikliks or l’Alliklik, were Candelaria (who died in 1912) and Sinforosa (who died in Newhall in 1915). Local historian A.B. Perkins noted that Juan Jose Fustero died in Piru Canyon in 1934. Later reports by Jerry Reynolds had put his death at about 10 years earlier.
The 500 or so Tataviams who lived here in the late 18th century may have worshipped a god called Chu Pu. A few of the larger villages had a maypole in the center where Chu Pu was placated with food and gifts, but not blood sacrifices. Around the maypole, sometimes decorated with crow feathers, the Native Americans would dance, sometimes for days. They would pause every once in a while to blow in the direction of north, south, east and west. Sometimes, the male dancers wore a costume made of black crow feathers and white goose feathers, like a modern-day Aussie riding duster. They also wore condor feathers around the groin area. The last known dance of this kind was reported in 1860.
According to Perkins, for the Tataviam, signs of evil could come from a fox howling, a raven flying directly over your head or seeing three owls together.
Girls coming into puberty were treated to a ceremony where they were placed in a pit, covered in warm stones with aromatic herbs laid over the stones. They would stay in the pit for days. The women of the village would dance around them, singing women’s songs and no, it wasn’t Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar.” The teenager would then be removed from the pit, have her face painted with red ochre and led back to the village, where they were given a lecture by the chief on how to live well. Then, they were welcomed into the village as women.
The boys, upon entering manhood, would be given a hallucinogenic drink made of jimson, or, loco weed.
There were about 25 semi-permanent villages throughout the valley prior to 1800. Throughout these villages, there were two and only two clans: the Coyote and the Mountain Lion. Each village had its own clan leader or chief. The Mountain Lion was the top clan and the chief came from that family. He was assisted by a member from the Coyotes. Mountain Lions and Coyotes could not marry within their own clan.
This gets confusing, so pay attention. The Lions gave gifts to the Lions in the bride’s family. They were usually seashell and/or abalone shell beads. The suitor offered a gift of a rabbit skin cape to the bride and a small basket.
Most interestingly, the Tataviam had a tale of creation, an exegesis similar to evolution, Genesis and the New Testament. This story depicts a dark void out of which was formed the moon, stars and Earth, which was first made of only rock, followed by water. Then came plants, then animals, then man, who migrated from a central location all around the globe. The son of the father died, but before he did, he told his descendants that he would one day return to live with them.
How startling is that?
MARCH 21, 1926
COPS GONE BAD — Locals were all for law and order, but some goons from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department raised the ire of even our own Santa Clarita Valley law enforcement. Seems a crew of 20 deputies from L.A. manned a roadblock, looking for some escaped felons. They reportedly roughed up some innocent locals in their illegal search and seizures.
AND IT’S STILL HERE — The Frew family moved into their brand new custom-built home on this date. It was viewed as one of the best in town. Today, that house is still there, headquarters to the parks department at Hart Park.
THAT MUST HAVE BEEN ONE HECK OF A WALL — On this date, ranch hand Fred Kovalsky died reportedly after falling from a wall on the Barker Ranch. The wall was described as 60 feet high. That’s pert near the size to keep out giant marauding apes and T-rexi.
MARCH 21, 1936
ALAS, NO TALKIES FOR BILL — Our silent film icon, William S. Hart, chatted with Signal editor A.B. Thatcher and said he hadn’t left out the possibility of returning to the big screen to star in “talkies.” Hart had been embroiled in a lengthy lawsuit to acquire profits owed to him by studios. He would eventually win, after it was discovered the original judge was bribed by the movie moguls.
MARCH 21, 1946
SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL — A major earthquake struck Southern California, shaking the SCV, mostly up in Canyon Country. Barrister Paul Palmer was taking a shower in his Sand Canyon home at 5:45 a.m. with the tumbler hit. The quake was strong enough to break the water main to his home.
MARCH 21, 1956
ONE OF HART’S GREATEST TRAGEDIES — On this date, senior Bob Elders was working after school on an unsupervised chemistry experiment. Elders mixed the wrong chemicals and blew up the porcelain mortar. Chards tore him apart. He crawled out the door, trying to reach the screaming of students at a track meet behind the school. He bled to death.
FAREWELL, DEAR TREE — One of Henry Mayo Newhall’s last giant eucalyptus trees felt the ax — thanks to an 81-year-old grandma. “Ma” Crusey ordered the healthy giant killed. Despite pleas from her neighbors and town elders, she didn’t want such a big tree in her small yard. The flora was part of the original bridle path Mr. Newhall had planted in the 1870s, leading from his home to downtown Newhall. Scolded Signal editor Fred Trueblood: “Soon the village mainstem will be treeless as a Russian steppe. It will have modern stucco, and chromium, and marble, and neon lights — but no tree. ‘Only God can make a tree.’” Interestingly, the tree was in front of the old Snak Shak hamburger stand on present-day Main Street, home of another female curmudgeon, Margaret Hamilton.
MARCH 21, 1966
A FEW YEARS LATER, IT’D BE MY SIGNAL OFFICE — I sure am glad the sniper didn’t wait eight years. On this date, in the light of early morn, deputies had to dive for cover as an assailant peppered the old Spruce & 6th Street substation No. 6. Five bullets hit the station. Two Newhall youths were arrested later in the day. A valleywide dragnet caught the boys, who had the same .22 caliber rifle in their back seat. The bullets matched the ones in the adobe. Deputy Craig Hatcher was almost hit in the head when one of the bullets crashed through the window and just about gave him a new part. The youths weren’t exactly master criminals. Part of their morning routine was the drag race in front of the sheriff’s station just about every morning. Several witnesses recalled seeing the car, which helped a roadblock later stop the lads.
MARCH 21, 1976
AND SOME SAY HE LOOKED LIKE GAYLE JOHNSON-BECKER! — In 1976, John Denver was one of the biggest movie and music stars in America. The guy was boffo. On this date, he was at Hart Park, shooting a documentary on America. Denver told an audience of onlookers he had no idea how big a star William S. Hart had been. Oh. The Mrs. Johnson-Becker reference? Around the same time, the beautiful 20-something former Hart High cheerleader with a short, Dutch boy hairdo, was at a stoplight. The guy next to her rolled down his window and yelled that she reminded him of someone famous — John Denver.
OUR MINT CANYON CULT — Sheriff’s deputies forcibly removed a 25-year-old girl from the Tony & Susan Alamo Christian Foundation enclave. They had a court order from Colorado claiming the Alamos had kidnapped and brainwashed the girl. Many other parents had filed similar suits against the controversial local evangelicals. Tony would later end up in prison for all sorts of charges, including rape and human trafficking.
NEXT TIME? TRY AS MOUSE TRAP. — I suppose it is the dream of every copy editor to write the headline: “Man Bites Dog.” We came close three decades back with “Mouse Shoots Man.” Seems Steve Offenbacher was rummaging through a pile of scrap metal when he spotted a little mouse poke his itty-bitty head out. Offenbacher produced a .45 caliber revolver — a bit of overkill for a rodent — and started firing. One of his bullets hit the inside of a tire rim, did a 180 and came back to hit the scrap metal browser in the side. He lived. So did the mouse.
MARCH 21, 1986
THERE’S EASIER WAYS TO TAKE DOWN A TELEPHONE POLE — A young Canyon Country biker did it the hard way, smashing into it with his 250cc motorcycle. That’s moving a lot of wood for a little bike …
HART ATTACK — The local fast food eateries weren’t too happy. The William S. Hart Union High School District looked into closing down the high school campuses for lunch.
HIGH PRICE OF PETROL — Forty years back, Daniel Boone’s (no relation) little petrol boutique up Sierra Highway used to attract a lot of attention. Boone’s Motorsports sold specialty fuels for hot rods and supercharged boats. His price list out front of the service station/garage listed prices ranging from $2.75 to $5.75 a gallon. He only got about 20 customers — a week.
• • •
Well, that was fun. I vote we do it again. Perhaps — next weekend back here at The Mighty Signal hitching post? Until then — 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.
