Top of the Signal Saturday morning to you, dear saddlepals. A most excellent adventure ahead have we, what with giant bears, an unusual shooting (and reason because) of a Highway Patrolman and Fourth of July celebrations (with horses!!) of yesterday.
Ahead lies humor, sadness, irony and all that goes into the fabric of Santa Clarita. Shall we mosey into yesteryear, friends?
If the previous traditional homespun invitation hasn’t piqued your interest, we’ve got TWO — count them — TWO stories about — ready? — LOCAL CRIMINAL NUDISTS!!!!
Thought that’d get your prurient attention …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
IT’S STILL A DARN BIG BEAR — Rancher, businessman and overall mucky-muck in Canyon Country a century before it was called Canyon Country, John Lang even had a train depot named after him, even though he had sold land to the Southern Pacific that he didn’t even own. But, what Lang is most famous for is shooting a horrendously large grizzly bear on July 7, 1873. The beast had killed and eaten both men and cattle. It was one of two giant bruins that stalked the Santa Clarita Valley. (The other was called the Piebald Grizzly of the Piru after his curious multi-colored face; his second nickname was Old Clubfoot after his mangled paw).
Books, magazines and newspaper articles wrote for more than a century that the Soledad beast that Lang aerated tipped the scales at 2,350 pounds, stood over 10 feet tall and had a paw print 19 inches in diameter. It would later be stuffed and mounted in a San Francisco museum. Later, it was sold to a museum in London. What makes the bear — and this valley — world famous is that the creature was the model for a 19th-century version of the flag of California. Even better, the Golden Valley High School Grizzlies are named after the fierce bruin.
History is a liquid thing and fairly recently, someone came up with a newspaper article — a letter from John Lang himself. Lang wrote that the media and authors had misrepresented the weight. The Lang bear weighed a paltry 1,600 pounds. Which begs the question now — did the Piebald Grizzly weigh 2,350 pounds?
OUR WORLD-FAMOUS WHITE OIL — America was celebrating its centennial on July 4, 1876. In Philadelphia, a sample of opaque, white oil was wowing the tourists at the Philadelphia fair. This oil was so pure, it burned 100 times longer and much brighter than regular oil. This mystery mineral came from our own back yard in Placerita Canyon. In fact, there still is a “secret” well where the white oil bubbles to the surface. Love to show you where it is. Can’t. It’s secret …
THE BIRTH OF MENTRYVILLE — Mr. D.G. Scofield started the California Star Oil Works up Pico Canyon on July 8, 1876. He hired a young Frenchman, Charles “Alec” Mentry, to run the place. Eventually, the Pico Canyon area would be named after the ingenious fellow. Today, it’s still called Mentryville. It’s a state historic park where my daughter and I love to hike.
THE VALLEY’S MOST FAMOUS PASTOR — The Rev. Wolcott H. Evans began his illustrious career of loving service. He was named pastor of the Presbyterian Church on Newhall Avenue back on July 5, 1914. Evans earned the beloved title of “Shepherd of the Hills.” He was renowned for being of service after the infamous St. Francis Dam disaster, where 500 souls lost their lives. There’s a street in Newhall named after him today.
OUR VERY FIRST TELEPHONE — In 1896, the fledgling Pacific Bell made a deal with The Newhall Land & Farming Co. for a right-of-way easement through the ranch property. Those first phone lines went from Newhall and stretched into Santa Barbara. This very week, in July 1900, they installed the first — and this is important — Pac Bell telephone in the Santa Clarita Valley. It was hooked up at Campton’s General Store. (I’m going to do an in-depth Mr. SCV column next Friday, July 17, on the most amazing history of telephone service here. The info shared will be on the final …)
JULY 11, 1926
MILITARY MOOLAH — Charles Kingsburry was one of the town movers and shakers. You can find his 1870s-’80s colonial-revival home at the Santa Clarita History Center today. (“Uncle Charlie,” as he was called, moved into the place in the 1940s but Lyman Stewart, who founded the Union Oil Co., lived there in the late 19th century.) Exactly a century back, Kingsburry was a mighty happy fellow when he got his Spanish-American War monthly veteran’s check in the mail. They boosted his stipend to 30 bucks. Kingsburry moved here at the end of World War I and worked as a carpenter to start.
A LOW-IMPACT INDEPENDENCE DAY — The Fourth of July celebration was a quiet one in a village of 500 souls. Wrote Signal editor A.B. Thatcher: “Fully 75 cents must have been spent for fireworks on the glorious Fourth. And the noise was terrific. Sometimes could be heard for fully 20 feet.”
MASTER FOURTH OF JULY CRIMINAL CAPTURED — In the crime log, the only report over the Fourth concerned a local kid named Johnny Buster who was captured with two sparklers and a firewheel. The official police log noted they confiscated, “ONE sparkler and the firewheel,” leaving Buster with one incendiary device.
JULY 11, 1936
40 KIDS, ONE TRUCK? WAS HE ON HIS WAY TO SELL THEM AT THE LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKET? — You have to wonder what was going on in the mind of the driver of this car, that is, if he had a mind. Driving a rickety truck carrying 40 children, the driver lost several of them when one of the running boards collapsed from the weight. Six children fell off at a high rate of speed and were seriously injured.
‘GOAT FARMER TOM:’ GOOD BAND NAME — Speaking of speeders, goat farmer Thomas lost four of his trip (synonym for herd) when trying to get them across treacherous Mint Canyon. The domestic ruminants bounced out of his pickup.
FROM THE OLDEST DEPARTMENT STILL IN EXISTENCE AT THE SIGNAL — A correspondent for the Well, Duh Dept., of this mighty newspaper noted that the Old Timers Picnic at Vasquez Rocks wasn’t that exciting. Hmmm. Doesn’t that go without saying?
DO YOU TAKE THIS WOMAN, IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH, WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHING, AND, ON A STALLION? — Frank and Alice Robinson entertained picnickers with their spat. They two got into a battle royale after Alice pulled a Lady Godiva — sans horse and long hair — to the delight and/or shock of 1930s onlookers.
DIFFERENT FRANK — RE: the above and just to keep the record straight, the Frank Robinson above is no relation to the Hall of Famer and the Major Leagues’ first Black manager. THAT Frank Robinson was only a year old in 1936 and didn’t live in Newhall …
JULY 11, 1946
BACK BEFORE CITY HALL WAS IN CHARGE OF OUR PARADE — Here’s something we won’t be seeing, probably ever again. The Fourth of July parade was dominated by horses. There were around a couple of hundred. Pablo Arauja, who had once driven 20-mule borax teams, took first prize as oldest rider. He was 80. There were so many horses, there were 30 different categories for ribbons. Safety memo? No one died, was injured, got trampled nor was eaten by horse or Presbyterian …
MODEL T SEASON IN ACTON — Helen Montegriffo and Mae McLaughlin were storing their old Model T Ford in Acton, in preparation for the Fourth of July parade in Newhall. They never got to ride in it. Seems two 19-year-old L.A. yahoos and their girlfriends thought the car was abandoned. The boys took out .22 rifles and peppered the car with 50 shots. The matrons heard the gunfire and called the California Highway Patrol. The couples were arrested and the boys fined $200 (or, $4 per bullet hole), plus ordered to replace or fix the car.
JULY 11, 1956
JIM’S NOT GOOD HUSBAND MATERIAL — You think you hear about everything when it comes to traffic accidents, but this one belongs in a category all by itself. Saugus resident Jim West crashed his car into a tree near Bouquet Junction. CHP and sheriff’s units were at the scene soon and were suspicious because 1) West was drunk; and 2) there were bloody women’s shoeprints and drag marks leading from the scene. Officers followed the spoor and found Leona Olson lying in a field. West had dragged her there, bleeding, because he didn’t want police to find her. West was arrested on a slew of charges. Ironically, that exact same tree was where two men lost their lives a year earlier in a traffic accident.
AND THERE WERE HORSES IN THAT PARADE, TOO — I remember years ago, leading out the Fourth of July on horseback for the first time, and it was the prettiest darn day, with a little drizzle and in the high 60s. The Fourth of July was similar, weather-wise, more than a half-century back. The parade itself was so huge, the front end bumped into the back end.
THE DUKE’S DEADLY MOVIE — John Wayne made many a movie out here in the SCV but probably none of them he wanted to forget more than “The Conqueror.” Of all people, The Duke portrayed Genghis Khan. His co-star was Susan Hayward and the movie was partially filmed at Vasquez Rocks. Stretching the local angle to obscene lengths, it was released at the American Theater on this date. The part was originally written for Marlon Brando and lives in infamy as one of the worst movies ever made. “Conqueror” may have also been the deadliest film of all time. It was also shot in Utah, just a couple miles from a nuclear test site. Many of the cast, including Wayne, would die later from cancer. It was never legally determined whether that cancer stemmed from being so close to a highly radioactive bomb site.
JULY 11, 1966
A SPY AS OUR GRAND MARSHAL — Mrs. Marion Miller was our grand marshal for the parade 60 years back. Trivia? Marion was the most decorated woman in American history to that date and a counterspy for the FBI.
HIGHLY PAID FOSTER — Jim Foster was named superintendent of the Saugus Union School District on this date. His two-year contract was good for $20,000 a year.
TRAIN WRECK — A pair of trains — and that’s usually the top possible number in incidents like this — collided head-on in Canyon Country after a switch wasn’t thrown. Freight cars were thrown all over the place and, luckily, crew members from both behemoths were just lightly shaken.
MEDICARE NO-SHOWS — The first week of the brand-new Medicare program went without incident here in the SCV. Why? No one was admitted or treated here under the new program.
JULY 11, 1976
A BULLDOZING FELONY — Five SCV youths were arrested after a vandalizing rampage, which included the group going on a joyride in a hijacked earth mover. The quintet broke windows and smashed vehicles. Sadly, they were taken without incident.
WONDER WHAT THE RADIO CODE IS FOR ‘OFFICER SHOT IN BED?’ — Fifty years ago this week, a local Highway Patrolman was shot, in bed, by his wife. Upon arrest, she confessed her motive was that he was a poor husband. Hit in the arm, the patrolman was listed as being in good condition. The Signal printed his name in 1976. We won’t today.
JULY 11, 1986
PERHAPS HE NEEDED THE MONEY FOR PANTS — Here’s one you don’t see on the sheriff’s blotter every day. Or decade. On this date, a man with curly brown hair, around 6-2 and about 35 years old, snatched a purse from a woman at the Ranch House Inn off Magic Mountain Parkway. Getting away with $20 cash and the particulars of the purse, the tanned fellow of muscular build was last seen headed toward the Valencia Golf Course on foot. And, oh. Did I mention? He was stark-raving naked. I know. It’s an exact description of me then, but I have an alibi. And, pants …
ARMPIT TO ARMPIT? — After 38 years, James Guthrie retired from the railroad business. He was the last station manager of the Saugus depot and his family were the last inhabitants of our historical station. Jim, his wife Arminta and six of their children had lived in the loft above the depot. The Guthrie family surely earned their chops. From 1950 to 1958, they manned a station a little bit more remote than Saugus. James was station manager of a Southern Pacific depot in Mexicali. That was even an upgrade from another depot in California that Guthrie described: “Glamis is the middle of the desert between nowhere and no place.” It had no electricity and water had to be delivered via the trains. Hm. Dream job?
• • •
Be thankful for all those little blessings — like running water and electricity and not living in Glamis. Foof. Miss you all, I will. See you good neighbors and saddlepals next weekend, same Signal fork in the road, same Signal time. Until then — vayan con Dios, amigos!
Visit John Boston’s bookstore and eclectic online store with unique gifts for readers and writers at JohnBoston-Books.com. A lifelong SCV resident with 119 major writing awards and nearly 12,000 columns, Boston is the most prolific humorist and satirist in world history.
