It’s been an absolute glorious May so far. The creeks are running. Temperature is under four digits. Stars in the sky at night and sun’s out during the day. Fresh air and smiles are free.
We’ve a most epic vista ahead, saddlepals, what with giant camels, movie stars, mountain lions and the usual “Dear me whoa Betty” things to point out.
Just a small press of spur and an encouraging “giddy-up …”
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
HIKER OF THE MILLENNIA — Father Garces, one of our valley’s most amazing historical characters, was in the original Portola party that “discovered” the valley in 1769. Father Garces decided not to follow the big posse when they went west and up the California coast. Hiking by himself, he “discovered” San Francisquito Canyon and several outposts in the San Joaquin Valley. Then, he walked all the way back and met Portola in San Diego several months later. Can you imagine? Walking all that way by yourself, in just some floppy sandals and itchy robe?
IF YOU FORGOT TO SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Hank, it’s not too late. One of the most influential men in our history was Henry Mayo Newhall, the California zillionaire who bought most of this valley for around $90,000. He was born on May 13, 1825.
NOT ONLY THAT, THEY COULDN’T GET THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE — May 13, 1856, a squadron of soft-footed camels meandered through Newhall, headed for Fort Tejon. They were part of an ill-fated experiment to use camels to patrol the vast wastelands of California. I remember an old history student shared that the reason why the camels didn’t work here was because of their feet. They were made for soft desert sands — not the sharp rocky topography of Southern California.
Of course, there was also the problem that the cavalry didn’t like camels and the Egyptian camels didn’t like the American cavalry, either.
Speaking of camels, back in 1981, local hiking Canyon Country teen-ager Tim Wilson found a leg bone to a giant Pleistocene camel called Camelops. The beast lived here around 12,000 years ago and was 13 feet tall at the shoulders.
Eventually, the camels would be sold to private individuals, zoos and businesses. A few would be let go to roam wild. This camel express was the brainchild of a young lieutenant, stationed here earlier. With his pal, legendary scout Kit Carson, the lieutenant was exploring the Santa Clarita and parts beyond. Edward Fitzgerald Beale would get the bright idea of “Camels!”
Later, he would become one of the state’s more controversial figures and have the historic Beale’s Cut named after him.
There was also an old story about how a soldier was killed by an Indian arrow while atop one of Beale’s camels. The man’s body never fell off the saddle and it’s said his skeleton rode atop the camel for years in the wastelands of Central and Southern California.
The camel went insane toting the bones and would attack pilgrims by campfire at night. Best you be careful strolling those paseos …
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, YOU BELOVED PRESBIES! — The Newhall Presbyterian Church was formed 125 years ago. The original little chapel, built in 1891, was later used as a location for a Charlie Chaplin comedy. It rests at Heritage Junction inside Hart Park. Walter Newhall, son of patriarch Henry Mayo Newhall, donated the land on the street that bears the family name. That original church cost $1,225 to build.
MAY 16, 1926
WITH SPRING DOTH COME THE RATTLESNAKES — That’s true today as it was 100 years ago. With spring come the rattlesnakes. On this date, a 6-footer was spotted on the front steps of Agua Dulce Elementary. Actually, the poor snakes should have printed their own warnings about humans. Some of the older boys killed the reptile.
YIPES, OUCH & WINCE!!! — You remember how teachers were always yelling at us NOT to run with pencils or sharp objects when we were kids? On this date, Russell Ruck was not only running with a pencil, he was running with it in his mouth. The Mint Canyon elementary school student hit a door frame and jammed the sharp end (which was pointed in his mouth) into his tonsils.
BRIDAL SHORTAGE? — A little demographic info: Signal editor A.B. “Dad” Thatcher noted that the Newhall-Saugus area had more bachelors per square mile than any place in America. We’re wondering if that was based on science or rural observation.
BUSY WEEK FOR THE FILMMAKERS — In town, making different movies, were Tom Mix, Harry Carey and Cecil B. DeMille.
MAY 16, 1936
NOTCH ONE FOR THE MOUNTAIN LIONS — On this date, a Van Nuys man brought up a half-dozen special hunting dogs to go find pumas Canyon Country way. The unnamed outdoorsman let them go around the old Sterling borax community. All six of the hounds fell to their death when they fell into an abandoned mine shaft.
HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW — On this date, the local beauty parlor offered a special early-summer rate of 35 cents for something called a “Ladies Personality Hair Cut.” Can you imagine? A woman from 1936 instantly stepping into 2026 and seeing that you could go to an upscale salon and spend $100 for a cut and that would be considered cheap?
I COULD DO WITHOUT THE CHICKEN COOPS, BUT I’LL TAKE THE REST OF THE RANCH — Speaking of Depression-era prices, try this one on. A rancher offered, for rent or sale, his 60 acres next to Vasquez Rocks. It had a big house, barn, chicken coops, garage, INDOOR PLUMBING, trees, various outbuildings, fruit trees and it was fenced. You could buy the whole shooting match for $3,500 ($58.33 an acre) or rent the place for 10 bucks a month. Foof.
MAY 16, 1946
LATE SPRINKLES — Hard to believe, but it rained all this week 80 years back. It wasn’t much, but the crops sure liked it. (TIME RANGER NOTE TO RECENT YUPPIE SADDLEPALS: “Crops” is where fruits and vegetables come from …)
THE LONELY, SUICIDAL CANYONS OF THE SANTA CLARITA — The second suicide in as many weeks was discovered off Highway 99. Folks used to come up here to end their misery because of its proximity to populated areas while being very private. An aged man was found in his car. He had run a hose from his exhaust pipe through his window, a popular form of the day. Interestingly, that’s very hard to do today because of unleaded gasoline. The corpse was found by Victor Weldon, son of the man after whom Weldon Canyon (along The Old Road) was named.
WHEN HART WAS A MILITARY SCHOOL — The brand new Hart High had to go with Quonset huts to house their students. The district’s lowest bid to build permanent buildings on campus was $280,158. Alas, all the district had in the cookie jar was $262,000. Roughly, with an inflated building market, Hart’s greybeards figured it would cost about $7.50 a square foot to put permanent classes on their land.
EDITORIAL REBUTTAL — I probably stand alone in this, but if it were up to me, I’d have The Signal retract its editorial from 80 years ago. TMS’ op/ed headline was: “Traffic Lights Needed Here.” Seems we’ve got one every 20 feet today …
GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS ALL OVER — Frank Hampton had his heart in his throat when he walked out of his Mint Canyon home to his car. Lying right next to his car was a mountain lion. It was dead.
A, B, C, DEE — Mrs. Waldo Hanby had a surprise visit from her niece, Frances Dee. Of course, now that Frannie was married, she went by Mrs. Joel McCrae. Yup. That’d be the famous actor. More trivia? As a lad in Los Angeles, Joel was William S. Hart’s paperboy. Cosmic.
MAY 16, 1956
RAINED OUT RODEO — Hmm. Odd how sometimes weather follows these decade patterns. We had another wet week of May weather, including a 1.5-inch overnight drenching. That rain canceled the dedication of the new Placerita Canyon park. It also severely dampened attendance at our 30th annual Newhall-Saugus Rodeo. Only 8,000 showed up for the weekend. The world-famous wild West show used to draw 25,000 a day back when.
GROVER CLEVELAND GROVE — This is a mystery to me, but south of Sand Canyon, a developer offered a 35-acre ranch for sale called “Grover Cleveland’s 7th Heaven.” I wish I knew if it was named for some reason after our ex-president or just some guy named Grover Cleveland. A little trivia though. Grover (the chief exec, not the Muppet) was our 22nd and 24th president. Next to President Donald Trump, the Democrat was the only commander-in-chief to leave the White House for four years then come back for another term. More interestingly, Grover was the only bachelor elected president AND the only president to be married while in the White House. He married Frances Folsom. She was 21. The Grovester was in his 40s.
MAY 16, 1966
THE GIANT ROADBLOCK — Highway 99 was closed down to make way for an odd cargo. A giant falsework (a complex, usually steel, frame for building freeway overpasses) had to be rolled in on steel pipes to build the Gavin Canyon overpass over what today is The Old Road.
MAY 16, 1976
ALUMINUM. STRAW. WHATEVER IT TAKES. —Homeowners in the Valencia Hills neighborhood learned that “Snap, Crackle & Pop” is not necessarily a good sound. Seems The Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s subcontractors had used aluminum wiring in many of the units. It’s not that aluminum wire is bad. It heats up differently than copper and has to be connected differently. If not, it can cause fires. A lot of contractors just plain didn’t know that when they built the homes.
SO FAR, SO GOOD — The move to break away from Los Angeles County and form our own government was going nicely (and would, until it was defeated in the general election polls by a 65-35 margin). The committee to form Canyon County released the borders for California’s newest government. Canyon County would stretch all the way to Gorman, Lake Hughes, Palmdale and the Ventura County line. More than half the land would have rested within the national forest. That would have been a cool county …
MAY 16, 1986
THE BIZARRO OLD DAYS OF CALARTS — During the 1970s and 1980s, the CalArts graduation ceremony always had a way of surpassing Halloween in strangeness and creativity. The Disney campus did it again 40 years back. One graduate watched the whole program from a nearby tree. Another built a 10-foot-tall X-Acto knife. He was apparently going into graphic arts after college.
99 OR 100? — Historians and the owner of the Saugus Cafe had a mild tiff. Fred Kane, who repurchased the famous eatery on San Fernando Road (Railroad Avenue, today) in 1983, said that the coffee shop, which had been opened 24 hours a day for years, had turned 100 years old in 1986. Historians said nay, that it was only 99 years old because it was opened (as the Tolefree’s Saugus Eating House) in 1887, inside the north end of the train station). According to my old pal and previous SCV historian, Jerry Reynolds, Alexander Issac Frazier opened it first. In 1898, Martin and Richard Wood took over the restaurant, changing it to the modern Saugus Cafe handle. In 1905, the brothers reportedly moved it across the street into a new brick building.
A GREAT IDEA FOR THE NEXT YEAR’S COWBOY FEST: DOPPELGANGER DAYS — Four decades back, the Friends of Hart Park held their “Best Bill Look-Alike” contest. They wanted to find someone, preferably local, who looked the most like our legendary silent film star, William S. Hart. The Friends got the idea from a Tom Mix look-alike who rode in the Rose Parade. With Tommy being somewhat of a local boy, too, perhaps we should have also founded a Friends of Tom Mix and had a two-for-one contest. And, actually, with all the famous cowboys who lived in the SCV over the years, we could have a look-alike contest in Cowboy Fest 2027 to find the twins of Hoot Gibson, Gene Autry, Slim Pickens, Ben Johnson, well, the list goes on …
• • •
Sure appreciate sharing the back roads with you good companions. You have yourself a real peaceful weekend and I promise to see you all next week in another exciting Time Ranger adventure. 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.
