Hope you time travelers brought along a pillow for your saddle this morn. We’ve an extra-long journey ahead, saddlepals. There’s no time to waste, so let’s giddy-up into a most interesting trail ride into the backcountry of our rich, Santa Clarita Valley history …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
THE EVER-REMINDING HARBINGER OF INFLATION — It was just 20 years ago when we were nailed with a postal increase that jumped to 39 cents for mailing a first-class letter. Come this July, it’s going up to 82 cents. Two words. Yee and ouch. Back in 1868, the very first post office in the SCV was in a long-forgotten community called Ravenna (between Acton and Agua Dulce). George Gleason was postmaster for a while. Seems he didn’t like the pay. After working for five months, all he received in renumeration from the federal government was 57 cents (or, 25 cents LESS than one stamp today!).
MORE ‘GOING POSTAL’ — In 1874, two years before Newhall was founded, the post office for the whole SCV was at the old Lyons Station, near where Eternal Valley is today. Here’s some trivia. That post office was called Petroliopolis, in honor of the Star Oil Co. a few yards away.
POSTAL NO. 3 — The first Newhall post office was established Jan. 16, 1877, at the Campton General Store. Campton lost his job as postmaster when Grover Cleveland was elected president (the position was a political appointment back then). George Larkey, Democrat, took George’s post.
FINAL POSTAL — We’ve oft spoke of Surrey, the turn-of-the-century community that literally shared the same sidewalk with Saugus. According to historian A.B. Perkins, one reason why the mail went to Surrey instead of Saugus was due to penmanship. Evidently, a postal executive demanded that Saugus come up with a new name. Why? A lot of mail intended for Sanger, CA, was mistakenly delivered to Saugus, and, vice versa. If you write out the two towns’ names in long hand, you’ll see why …
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ALL YOU PREZBIES! — No mention of the 125th anniversary of Newhall Presbyterian Church this month can be allowed without talking about the congregation’s founder, F.D. Seward. The reverend started preaching in the SCV in the 1880s, traveling on horseback from the oil fields of Pico Canyon all the way out to the mines of Acton. I remember a wonderful quote from the 20th century philosopher, Joel Goldsmith: “Put your home in your hat and don’t wear a hat.” Seward’s original church was where he happened to be. He preached in everything from Henry Mayo Newhall’s five-star Southern Hotel to schoolhouses to shanties. There were several unsuccessful attempts to start the First Presbyterian here in 1888 and 1889. The articles founding the church were filed May 31, 1891. A few months later, in October, a structure with a tall steeple resembling a New England church was christened. That first meeting had 16 members.
MAY 30, 1926
THE SUPER HIGH COST OF DRINKING — Prohibition was the law of the land and it was illegal to consume, sell or even possess alcohol. Apparently, Ted Lewis hadn’t read that part of the Constitution. The San Francisco truck driver was first stopped for speeding through the SCV by motorcycle cop McMurray. Guess old Mac was a bit more gullible than today’s gendarmes. Despite the fact Lewis was speeding, didn’t have a license or registration for his truck and the cargo rattling around sounded suspiciously like bottles, McMurray let him go. McMurray was jokingly retelling the story a few minutes later to local Constable Biddison and sheriff’s deputy Sanderson. Born of more suspicious stock, they hightailed it after the truck and caught up with it just past the old Newhall road tunnel (eastern Sierra Highway today). They found the big rig loaded to the brim with tens of thousands of dollars of illegal and top-end champagne, port and sherry. Lewis was arrested and held on $1,000 bail (two houses back then). A well-to-do Beverly Hills attorney showed up real quick to pay the fine. Hmmm. Wonder if the local sheriff’s station still has that sherry. Probably is well-aged by now …
BOOZE DOLLARS — Not counting the $1,000 from above, Judge Perkins collected $1,800 in fines for the month of May in his little courthouse. Hmm. If they collected that kind of money every month, wonder where all the money went because in the 1920s, that was a fortune.
UNDERCAST — Newhall Elementary might have miscast their eighth-grade graduation play a century back. Way down in the credits of “Robin Hood” was Billy Lamoreaux, who played the “Hobby Horse.” Billy is more well known for his screen name of Buzz Barton, the absolute top child silent movie star in the world. Sad story, too. Billy would fight in World War II and when he came home, he discovered his parents had taken off with all his money. He spent the rest of his life living in a bunk, getting three squares and a little spending money, working as a cowboy.
BOOK ‘EM — The county library moved its branch up to the balcony of the Bercaw store. Mrs. May Rolls was librarian.
BACK WHEN YOU COULD SEE THE HILLS — Just like in Placerita Canyon and some of our last wild places, the buckwheat and mesquite were turning the hills white with flowers after a good drenching from spring rains.
IMMORTALIZED IN POETRY — Today, friends and relatives sometimes plant crosses by the side of the road to commemorate the deaths of loved ones in traffic accidents. One hundred years back, in Elizabeth Lake, not only did they plant a cross and flowers, they planted Bill Jay in a roadside grave, along with the poem: “Here lies the body of William Jay; Who died defending his right of way; He was right, dead right as he sped along; But he’s just as dead as tho he’d been wrong.”
HARD-HITTING JOURNALISM — The Mighty Signal ran a feature about the care of monkeys as household pets. To give you the Cliffs Notes version: Keep ’em warm, feed ’em fruits and vegetables and provide water. I know many a human who has done well under similar conditions …
MAY 30, 1936
A LIFE THAT PASSED, TRAGIC AND UNNOTICED — An unidentified Mexican national was found dying in horrific fashion along the Southern Pacific tracks near the Saugus Station. The poor fellow’s right arm and leg had been severed by the train. His last word, was “Chino.” An entry in a book he had carried indicated he picked cotton in the San Joaquin Valley. There was no listing of friends, relatives or a home.
BIG-TIME DEVELOPER — It’s not like we had any huge building boom, but Henry King was credited as being the valley’s most robust home builder. King put up two more houses, this pair at 13th and Walnut.
A MAJOR OWIE — Carl Ginerich had to postpone building his 20-acre chicken ranch in Placerita Canyon. Seems his aim was bad with a pick while digging post holes and he added an orifice where one shouldn’t be. It took him two months for his foot to heal.
MAY 30, 1946
MAJOR BRRRRRRR!!!!!! — Eesh. Our May weather. Eighty years back this week, the mercury fell to the HIGH 30s at night and we had a bit of rain. The precipitation was blamed in part for a weekend of tragedy in which three people died and 23 were seriously injured in highway accidents.
ADIOS, DEAR EVE — Matriarch of the Frew clan, Evangeline Frew, died on this date. She married Tom Frew I in 1890 and the couple moved to Newhall in 1900 where a long line of Frews followed. The Frew family operated a blacksmith/iron works shop here until the 1970s. Evangeline was born June 13, 1871.
GAS TAX — Our own colorful “Big” Bill Bonelli, who served on the State Board of Equalization, noted that for the first time in state history, the gas tax topped the $6 million mark for a single month. I think we hit $6 million a minute now.
MAY 30, 1956
STOP THE PRESSES — Life was sometimes painfully slow in the lonely confines of the Santa Clarita. The fact it was Rural Mail Box Improvement Week made front-page headlines in The Mighty Signal.
AND NOT A SINGLE DOUGHNUT NOWHERE IN SIGHT — Coffee was plentiful up and down Highway 99, thanks to Perfecto Aguas. The teamster lost his load of 40,000 tons of Colombian roast when his truck flipped. Perfecto’s driving wasn’t perfecto, but he was. He escaped without injury.
MAY 30, 1966
SNAKES ALIVE! — A panicked hillside lady reported she had witnessed a gopher snake and a rattlesnake — ahem — “cross-mating.” According to four different reptile experts and, well, me — it’s impossible. So rest easy about deadly poisonous mutant gophtlers stalking the Santa Clarita sagebrush. Pass that on to your horses, too.
BEFORE THERE WAS AN AMAZON — Dick Shacknies, manager of North Oaks Footwear, got an unusual air mail request. Leonard Lancaster of Canyon Country was serving a stint in Vietnam. He sent a letter to Shacknies, along with a $20 check, to buy a decent pair of shoes and a half dozen pairs of socks. Even in 1960s money, I don’t know what kind of “decent” pair of shoes, let alone six pairs of socks, you could buy for 20 bucks. Shacknies turned the check over to Leonard’s parents and sent out his best pair — along with the socks — to Lancaster all the way to Vietnam.
GIANT GRIZZLY SEEN ON SOLEDAD — Here’s some extreme entertainment/history trivia for you. The Mustang Drive-In, on Soledad near the present-day Cross Valley Connector, held its grand opening on Wednesday (that’d be night) May 25, 1966. Built by Poynter-Wirthwein Theaters of Beverly Hills, the outdoor show cost $400,000 to build. Bob Bivens was the Mustang’s first drive-in. Admission price was $1.25 for adults, 50 cents for kids and non-car-driving children were free. The first bill shown there? It was “Last of the Secret Agents” and “Night of the Grizzly,” with Clint Walker (one of my all-time favorite sub-B movies).
SPIES UP SAN FRANCISQUITO — Meanwhile, the old Corral Drive-in, up San Francisquito Canyon, which was calling itself the Valencia Drive-in briefly, had their own spy bill. They were showing “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” and “Yellow Rolls Royce.”
POOR RONALD REAGAN — He couldn’t get a break with The Signal. At the time, Ron was more of a punchline that a world-renowned political figure. He was stumping for his California governor candidacy at the North Oaks Shopping Center. He garnered just a small picture and caption — on page 3 of the then-weekly paper. Living well is the best revenge. The son of a shoe salesman would surprise everyone and become chief exec of the Golden State, and, of course, later, president. This was, I believe, the fourth time Reagan had spoken in the SCV. Each time to that point, he had never made the front page.
MY FAVORITE ACTRESS — Laura Raynor was the star of the Hart High revue, “Hartburns ’66.” She became an award-winning, world-traveling stage actress who called Newhall her home her entire life. She died way too early and I still miss her.
MAY 30, 1976
GOOD CHILD or BAD CHILD? — This one is for you REALLY old-timers. The second-oldest institution in the William S. Hart Union High School District — next to the district itself — was Cecil Sims. He retired 50 years ago after starting with the school in 1946. The wispy thin civics teacher was famous for his smiling demeanor and his legendary ranking of students. Remember “Good Child/Bad Child?”
Sims organized the first class curriculums (of the original eight teachers, Sims was the only one who had ever taught high school). For you post-moderns, here’s something that will link you with living history. Every time you sing the alma mater (“All hail Hart High, all hail to thee …”) think of Mr. Sims. He wrote it.
When asked about his reaction to hearing his work sung at every sporting event, Sims grinned: “I can’t explain how I feel when the band plays it.” Of course, most people will never know how Sims worked behind the scenes on things never listed in his resume or obituary.
Several times, he talked kids out of suicide, including one ex-Hart student/Marine. The soldier turned the gun on Sims. Facing the barrel of a .45, Sims used three little words we all should use more: “I love you.” The distraught soldier put the gun down. After some psychiatric help, the kid went on to live a productive life. Cecil Houston Sims, who also wrote the original Hart Indian Fight Song, passed in 1991 at the age of 81.
MAY 30, 1986
MOTORHOMES DON’T KILL PEOPLE. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. — I believe this is not only a first, but also a one-&-only. On this date, Saugus resident Tom Powell was arraigned in a local courtroom. The charge? Attempted murder. The weapon? His big, fat RV. Powell had scraped the roof of his motorhome on the overhang of the Alta Dena Dairy, got into an argument with the owner, then ran him over. He was also charged with felony hit-and-run driving. It gets better. He was also charged with eluding officers in a “high-speed chase.” I know. In a motorhome.
MIKE THE SUPER COUGAR — With Victor Sotelo’s catch in shallow right field, College of the Canyons beat Rancho Santiago 7-5 to win the state junior college baseball title. It was the third state title for the Cougars. Surprisingly, no Cougar player wrenched his back out carrying the 378-pound* coach Mike Gillespie off the field on their shoulders. (*I SOOO wish Coach Gillespie were still with us so I could get that great laugh and faux threatening phone call Saturday morning. Mike went to that Big Diamond in the Sky in July 2020.)
COYOTE FISHING WITHOUT A LICENSE — Eeesh. Certainly recollecting a lot of dear angels on this time ride, dear saddlepals. On this date, 40 years ago, my good pals and neighbors, Paula and Clem Cox, fished a coyote out of their swimming pool. Paula ended up drying the shivering creature with a blow dryer and feeding it pork chops. The pup was too young to return to the wild and a few days later, Paula & Clem passed the little moon howler along to a wild animal sanctuary in Acton. Unfortunately, word of their kindness did not spread to the coyote community. Two days later, a coyote made off with one of their ewes from their Sand Canyon ranch.
• • •
Amen, boy howdy, this was an epic trail ride, wasn’t it? Thanks for the company, dear saddlepals. See you next Saturday back here at The Mighty Signal (¡¡ 259-1000 para suscripciones!!) hitching post with another exciting Time Ranger adventure. Until then? ¡Vayan con Dios, amigos y Feliz Navidad!
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.
