Big surprise? It’s hotter than heck. Top of the mid-July Sunday morn to you, amigos, amigo-ettes, amoebas and amoeba-ettes (the last two being sort-of Spanish for cute little wiggly friends).
I vote we skip the usual, history-centric time traveling and just go all the way back to even before the Early Holocene Period to the Ice Age when Santa Clarita Valley summers were a more pleasant 80-degree-ish.
An adventure we have just waiting around the next bend. It’s filled with million-year-old bunny rabbits, a PR lady with an inappropriate name, and, alas, horrific traffic accidents.
Shall we mosey into the mystic?
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
AND THE HOLE’S STILL THERE — At the time, it was one of the modern engineering wonders of the world. On July 14, 1876, construction was completed on one of the planet’s longest tunnels. That would be the 6,940-foot long Newhall train tunnel, which is still in use today. Originally, we had 11 tunnels in the SCV. Correct me if my counting’s off, I think we have three left.
The railroad was a big business boom to small Newhall. There was a payroll of around 350 white workers and 500 Chinese at the start of construction. Eventually, that payroll would grow to 1,500. It was extremely dangerous work. The ground was saturated with oil and water and it kept caving in and killing folks. Hauling out the muck was more difficult than boring through granite. A good day was 4 feet of progress.
On July 14, 1876, a Chinese laborer in a rubber suit stuck his pick through a wall. What did he see? Another Chinese laborer. They shook hands and the first air was exchanged between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys — underground. By the way. Working from both sides of the mountain, the tunnel was only off by a half-inch. How’s that for old-time math?
THE CROWING OF THE ROOSTER — Rudolph Nickel established the Santa Clarita Valley’s second — not first — newspaper on July 15, 1891. The Acton Rooster’s first edition was published on this date and off and on over the centuries (2) it drifts in and out of business. Acton was a thriving community back in the late 19th century and had more people living there than in the rest of the SCV combined and then some.
THE SCV’S FIRST NEWSPAPER — Alas, it ‘tweren’t The Mighty Signal, which was the SCV’s THIRD newspaper. The FIRST newspaper in the valley was created by a fellow named Billy Carlson, a bookkeeper for the Coast Oil Co. Carlson published his paper weekly in Newhall, one sheet of big paper printed on both sides, written in long hand. His circulation? Ten copies. Each by hand. He must not have had a grueling regular job. Carlson would venture into the farming business, buying 50 goats. After several months, Bill was wondering why his herd was not being fruitful and multiplying. Turned out he inadvertently bought all Billy goats. Carlson would later become a millionaire, making a fortune in real estate and promptly losing it. The name of the paper? I’ve asked a lot of old-timers and no one can remember it and no one has a copy.
AS ELMER FUDD USED TO SAY, ‘CWAZY, SQUOOWEY WABBITS!’ — Going so far back there were practically dinosaurs living here, our common local bunny rabbit is one of the oldest creatures on the American continent, tracing its lineage back millions of years. I think most of them live on, and in, my front lawn and I think I’m going to hire Elmer or the Woodlands Homeowners Association to pester them.
JULY 18, 1926
OUR FIRST SHERIFFS — This was a big day in local history. The county Board of Supervisors voted to create a sheriff’s substation here. The original location planned was to put it in the A.C. Swall house on Spruce Street (Railroad Avenue today), next to J.W. Doty’s home. A staff of 12-15 men (with four deputies on duty at any one time) were to be stationed here in Newhall (although the area they would serve would stretch out to about 1,000 square miles). Prior to 1926, most criminals captured here had to be carted down to Los Angeles.
LET THERE BE LIGHT — More civilization crept into the SCV. A huge, scanning search light over the Newhall Highway Tunnel was put into operation. The big optic lit up the skies for miles. Back then, aviators in biplanes passed through, sometimes stopping at our own Newhall International Airport. Signal editor A.B. Thatcher noted: “The fog below the mountains is often so dense that flying is impossible, and were a plane to arrive here during the night, Los Angeles might as well be at the bottom of the ocean.”
SAUGUS AIN’T IN PALMDALE — Our movement to have an identity goes back a long way and has many chapters. Local farmers were irate when Los Angeles papers commented on what fine “Antelope Valley hay” was being produced in Saugus. Our agrarian men pointed out that that’d be a stretch …
AN EVEN EARLIER PARADE — There was a July parade in town 100 years back, preceding Newhall’s previously supposed first Independence Day march of 1932. One witness said the posse consisted of “several wagons loaded with everything from furniture to goats.” Our last parade division was an old Ford being towed by two horses. One party was heard to say that they had all they needed but an engine.
JULY 18, 1936
WHY WE WERE CALLED, ‘NEW HELL’ IN THE SUMMER — The Signal suggested that all thermometers be removed from around town. Seems folks kept looking at the 110-degrees in the shade temperature and, knowing thus, felt worse. Those were the pre-air conditioning days when people slept on screened-in sleeping porches. Or, they slept outside.
DON’T RECALL THE GOVERNOR — On the other hand, The Signal urged the state not to recall Gov. Frank Merriam, noting that it would cost more to remove him than what he had allegedly stolen. The controversial 28th governor presided over the state at a time when unemployment was at a staggering 30%. Merriam, by the way, was the oldest governor to be sworn into office.
DRIVE SAFELY, BECAUSE IT’S NICE TO SLEEP IN ONE’S OWN BED — For as long as there have been cars, there have been pleas for folks to drive safely. A motorist noted a big V-8 roar by him going up Mint Canyon. The local shrugged and said: “I’d rather sleep in my own bed, tonight, thank you.” A few miles up the road, he saw the big sedan. “It had turned over three times, and the father, the mother and all the kids had been carried off in an ambulance. The oranges, coffee, plums and groceries were mixed up with pillows and blood on the car, which was a total wreck.”
JULY 18, 1946
OUR FIRST HISTORIAN — We have to thank A.B. Perkins, patriarch of the Newhall Water Co., judge, volunteer and mucky-muck for much of the old history of the SCV. On this date, 80 years back, he began his authoritative history of the valley in installments in this paper.
COUGAR VICTIM — Ben Johnson’s dog, Pal, went to Dog Valhalla on this date. The redbone hound succumbed to wounds after being on the losing end of a fight with a mountain lion.
’TWEREN’T SANTA & ’TWEREN’T HO-HO-HO — Al Pyle, 59, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. With a hoe, he whacked his neighbor about the head, finding nary a sign of a single weed.
NO LIFEGUARDS ON DUTY — Young Jim Chandler died on this date. The 17-year-old popular Sylmar lad, visiting friends from Newhall, went for a swim in a 25-foot-deep irrigation pond in Val Verde. Small problem: Chandler couldn’t swim and he drowned in front of horrified friends.
JULY 18, 1956
IS YOU OR IS YOU AIN’T? — We are home to many long-standing typographical errors. One of them is Hasley Canyon. Technically, it should be called “Isley,” from the Tataviam, named after a local berry. A contingent of SCVians unsuccessfully lobbied the county to get the name right.
TOO MUCH TRAGEDY — The Ramirez family had more grief than a family should go through. Their house burned to the ground a week earlier and, in the confusion, they left their 5-year-old girl inside. Their second child, just 3 months old, fell ill and died moments after being taken to the hospital.
HMMM. WONDER WHO LIVED IN MY OLD HOUSE AT ‘1 IRON CANYON?’ — Sand Canyon begrudgingly joined if not civilization, then Los Angeles County. The rural ranching enclave had to give up their old single, double and triple house digits in favor of the five-digit new county plan numbers.
JULY 18, 1966
BROSS IS BOSS — Robert K. Bross, a Vista, California, businessman, popped $250,000 to build a new gym for Los Angeles Baptist College in Placerita Canyon. Today, LABC is The Master’s University and the gym is still there.
TO SKI OR NOT TO SKI — From the artist’s sketch, it looked like a gingerbread house. It certainly was refreshing to see it in the middle of July. On this date, Frazier Park released sketches of a huge ski resort and convention center they planned to open by Christmas time. “Planned” was the operative word. The huge chalet was never built.
JUNK FOOD BANDITS: GOOD BAND NAME. — The Junk Food Bandits struck the Mint Canyon Little League field. The thieves with the sugar rush made off with 50 boxes of Cracker Jacks and 25 pounds of hot dogs and several boxes of hot dog buns. No peanuts were reported missing. Same day, someone broke into another Canyon Country store, ignored the register and swiped a pack of cigarettes and a candy bar, both worth 95 cents total.
JULY 18, 1976
SPEAKING OF JUNK FOOD — Ol’ Doc Pat Shaughnessy isn’t with us anymore. The controversial dentist and Hart trustee died young, many years ago. But bless his heart, he was a rare hero, friend and one trying to change the patterns of our youth. Alarmed at the amount of junk food the district had piled into their campus vending machines, Pat tried a pilot program at Sierra Vista Junior High. Taking out all the candy bars, Twinkies, chips and addendum junk food from the vending machines, he replaced them with roasted nuts, granola, fruit juices and milk. The result? Vending sales slumped in one month from around $8,000 to about $5,000. That translated to a loss for the district of about $250 a day.
MERLE’S A PEARL — Some folks were rather amazed to hear that country/western singing star Merle Travis was their neighbor. The recording star lived in a trailer in the Lily of the Valley Mobile Home Park with his wife, Betty, and two poodles. That’s two poodles too many. Crazy serendipity? I’m distantly related to Merle …
A DEADLY FLYING AXLE — A 25-year-old San Diego woman died in one of the most bizarre freak accidents in this valley’s history. Motoring home in her Volkswagen, the last thing she saw were the two huge wheels, tires and axle assembly from a big rig truck bouncing toward her. Right after leaving the Castaic scales, all teamster Herbert Wann reported feeling was a slight vibration. Somehow, the last axle on his rig broke off, went bouncing down Interstate 5 and crushed the little VW with the young woman inside.
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED — Two California Highway Patrol officers in an $80,000 helicopter landed in a field near Highway 138 and I-5 to help an elderly couple stalled in the heat. With one officer still at the helm, he felt his chopper lurch to the right. The big blades plowed up the field and the bubble was smashed. The pilot escaped with minor injuries.
HERE’S ONE BIZARRE THEFT FOR YOU — Someone broke into Rich Sheyda’s truck and, of all things, swiped just a 4-ounce bottle of white cyanide powder, clearly marked with a skull-&-crossbones. The poison was used to strip gold from circuit boards.
JULY 18, 1986
THE FAMILY THAT BLOWS UP THINGS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER — A father and son team of rocketeers became a father and son team of brush fire starters. The pair went up to Lake Hughes, in July, in the tinderbox shrubbery, to launch a fuel-loaded model rocket. In went a few feet, sputtered out of control and started a brush fire that was luckily put out by a large and quick contingent of firefighters.
40 YEARS LATER, STILL NO VAL VERDE AIRPORT — After the place had been abandoned as a world-famous motorcycle park, the 600-acre Indian Dunes, near Highway 126, was being studied as a site for an airport. The study cost $150,000 and, they didn’t build the field.
MACHO-MACHO SMYTH — Ahhh, in my heart, a thousand flowers bloom. Perhaps the best part of being the Time Ranger is finding completely embarrassing tidbits about our political leaders. On this date, a young Cameron Smyth, city councilman and candidate for state Assembly, appeared in a Hart High skit as one of the Village People (the song-&-dance ensemble made famous for their anthem, “Macho Man.”) Cammy played the motorcycle patrol officer, complete with boots and helmet. So next time you see our former mayor in the store, innocently hum the theme to “YMCA” complete with some bumps and grinds and a “huhh-huhh-huhh-huhh!!” con gusto …
RE: THE ABOVE ABOUT CAMERON SMYTH — You know, that above item was so deliciously embarrassing, let’s just read it again, out loud, if you happen to be in a crowded public place …
BANG FOR THE BUCK? — This is just one of those interesting historical juxta positioning things, but, on this date, a Superior Court judge ruled that Six Flags Magic Mountain violated civil rights laws when the amusement park refused to host a gay pride celebration. Public relations lady at the time for the park was, no fooling, Sherrie Bang.
• • •
That about wraps up our trail ride into yesteryear. You folks take care of yourselves and don’t forget to sing “YMCA” at Cameron. See you next week with a new Time Ranger adventure, complete with big cowboy hats, leather chaps, spurs and all the fixin’s, and, 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.
