I can’t recall quietly sitting on the edge of you trail riders’ yuppie waterbeds and whispering, “Shhhh. There-there. Just close your eyes and sleep in this morning. Today’s trail ride into Santa Clarita Valley history is SOOOOoooo boring, you might as well sleep in.”
Nope.
We’ve got another bronc-busting, bona fide passel of Western excitement ahead, you bunk huggers. There’s a major eruption — in Downtown Newhall — and an outbreak of bare naked saddlepals (so don’t forget to take your bandanas and cover the eyes of the young ‘uns). We’ve got bake sales. Yes. I’m not getting your hopes up. Actual bake sales, as courageously covered in The Mighty Signal. There’s KKK rallies, a fake atomic bomb threat, the Canyon High football streak and, well, cripes. Put your foot in the stirrup or rent a tree-trimming bucket and lower yourself in the saddle. We’ve some mighty interesting Santa Clarita vistas to explore …
WAY, WAY BACK WHEN
HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY TO YOU … — Before you start humming “Happy Birthday” to Newhall Elementary, hold your breath. Some put Sept. 19, 1879, as the historic school’s first opening day. Old-timers say it’s not necessarily so. Historian A.B. Perkins, in a 1950 article, noted the school opened in the old Lyon Ranch bunkhouse in 1877, then moved to present-day Walnut and 9th Street. Addi Lyon, son of one of the town’s patriarchs, recalled going to school there at the Lyon Ranch, near present-day Stevenson Ranch. Wherever Newhall Elementary was, at least in those early years, the darn place burned to the ground several times, no matter where they put the campus. Fortunately, no one was ever hurt in all those early blazes.
A CUT ABOVE — On Sept. 19, 1863, Gen. Edward Beale, the guy with the camels, took over an existing contract and continued digging what would be later named Beale’s Cut — the major north-and-south road linking southern and central California via Newhall.
ILLEGAL FISHING TIPS — The Tataviam Indians, who lived as peaceful nudists here while our forefathers were writing the Constitution, used to fish for freshwater clams on the Santa Clara River, which ran bank-to-bank back then. Like some other Southland tribes, they might have used hallucinogenic herbs to drug trout and other fish in the small lakes and pools here. The Amerindians would drop the herbs in the water and drugged fish would float to the top. Good thing the Tataviam didn’t have access to TNT and at least they weren’t as bad as former COC baseball coach Len Mohney, who used to fish Castaic Lake seconds after the Fish & Game trout planting truck drove off… {(:- ) to Coach Mohney…}
A BRAND NEW INVESTMENT — While the Civil War was raging, Benjamin Silliman Jr., professor of chemistry at Yale University, was out snooping around in Newhall back in 1864. Ben was looking for oil and he found plenty of it. This launched a big oil boom in the 1870-1900 with it picking up decade after decade.
Prior to the turn of the century, there were stories about entire herds of cattle drowning in lakes of oil on Newhall Ranch. It sure helped sell a brand new investment — oil stock shares.
Silliman found there already was an oil entrepreneur living in the SCV. A Mr. Gilbert refined oil and sold it to the various grape growers to lubricate their big wooden axles.
Actually, Gilbert came very close to putting California on the map before Pennsylvania as America’s first oil exporting state. Gilbert sold 100 barrels to Brooklyn businessman A.C. Ferris. Ferris shipped the oil down to Panama, where it was carried by mule to the East Coast. Ferris found he was losing money already, so left the 100 barrels in Panama.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1926
GETTING HIGH. GETTING LOW. — First time I ever heard of this one, but the Newhall Star Club held a rather fun concept for a party. Their “Measuring Social” required everyone to be measured at the door. It cost a quarter to get into the society event. For every inch over a certain height, men and women had to pay 2 cents. Ditto if you were under the required measure.
JUST AIN’T NO JUSTICE — Mark Twain once wrote a reply to his own obituary to the newspaper that wrote it. William Mayhue likewise penned a letter to The Signal correcting a report that he was a candidate for Justice of the Peace. He wasn’t.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1936
LET THEM EAT CAKE — The Signal has come up with some pretty “Well Duh” headlines and stories, but this one, well, sorry — takes the cake: “Cake One of the Best of Desserts; Handy for Unexpected Company.” Stop the presses.
FULL O’ BEANS? — Ninety years back, The Newhall Land & Farming Co. set aside 1,100 acres for their bean crop. Today, that would work out to about 414,000 condos …
WHEN WE CAME THIS CLOSE TO BECOMING LAX — A decade-long move to make Newhall International Airport the Southland’s main hub was picking up steam. (As I’ve oft mentioned, we got the humorous handle because we made an occasional mail run to Mexico.) Local Newhallians were in Sacramento, lobbying to create what was called “The Fogless Airport.” At the time, Glendale was the area’s major terminal, but, much of the time, it was fogged in (or out). A big air show had to be canceled due to the fog. In 1938, California would pass a state bond to make our little airstrip the major airport. After the war, the project just disappeared and LAX, not NIA, would be built.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1946
WIND & AIRPLANES: NOT A GREAT COCKTAIL — While we boasted about our relatively clear skies being desirable for an airport, one thing didn’t work so much in our favor: the Santa Anas. The blustery October winds were blamed for two separate plane crashes at Newhall International. Both pilots walked away from the wrecks.
THAT’S AN ENTIRE PASSEL OF TOMATOES — Mrs. John Boyer did more than her part for the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic barbecue 80 years back. She made 28 gallons of salsa. There were 1,050 dinners served.
BARE NAKED LADY — At the other end of the moral spectrum, an unidentified woman prisoner caused quite a stir at the little substation No. 6 in Newhall. More than tipsy, she took off all her clothes and threw them out the window. Embarrassed deputies had to call downtown for a female officer to take care of her, pronto.
WOOD YOU BELIEVE IT? — A derailed freight train spilled four flatbeds full of lumber. That backed up the rails into and out of the SCV.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1956
FROM THE KNUCKLEHEAD DEPT. — A careless hunter making his supper started a huge brush fire in Texas Canyon. Only quick responses from local firefighters and the luck of the winds stopped it from becoming a monster.
WORLD WAR III? — We used to have a huge, howling air raid siren at Fire Station No. 73 on San Fernando Road. For some odd reason, it went off. A few folks who had nuclear fallout shelters scampered out of bed in the pre-dawn hours to join the ants and spiders and wait for an oblivion that never came.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1966
THAT DARN KU KLUX KLAN — They can start trouble even when they don’t know they’re starting trouble. A Rev. William Fowler approached a local car salesman to rent a parcel of his land in Canyon Country. Fowler didn’t identify himself as a leader of the white supremacist group and said it was for a “church picnic.” People started calling the car dealership where he worked to complain and he was promptly fired. It appears the salesman didn’t realize that Fowler was a minister of the Covenant Church of Jesus Christ, a white separatist church.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1976
THE OPPOSITE OF SERENDIPITOUS — A week earlier, 48-year-old Fred Anderson was drinking at The Mint Bar in Canyon Country. He got on his racing 1975 Kawasaki, sped down Sierra Highway and died in a fiery crash. His best friend, Stan Hooper, paid a solemn homage by riding out to The Mint Bar. He had a few drinks and talked about his friend, Fred. He climbed on his racing 1974 Kawasaki, sped down Sierra Highway and died in a fiery crash.
AND IT WASN’T EVEN EL NINO — September is usually a dry month here. Sometimes we’ll get a late tropical storm coming up from Mexico that will result in a small cloudburst. But, 50 years back, precipitation came and stayed, dumping nearly 3 inches of rain over a long weekend.
DUDE. WHERE’S YOUR BRITCHES? — One of the trademarks of the 1970s was a rash of nudity, which struck the SCV. On this date, California Institute of the Arts student Romandell Reynolds was arrested for walking through the College of the Canyons sprinklers stark raving naked. He was spotted, hands behind his back, perusing a student bulletin board.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1986
ALWAYS THE INDIANS — Certainly my alma mater, Hart High, forever home of The Mighty Indians no matter what the suits tell you, has fallen on early hard times. And Canyon, ranked highly, had an upset. But 50 years ago, it was The Game when unbeaten Canyon and No. 1 ranked Hart met. The Cowboys stretched their 38-game win streak to 39 with a 42-32 win over the Indians. It was the Cowboys’ fourth-straight victory in the then-18-game rivalry.
NO NEED TO GET ALL STEAMED UP — Hmmm. Wonder where that money went. On this date, Applied Energy Services cut a $500,000 check to the Placerita Homeowners Association as part of an agreement that allowed AES to build a steam plant at the Sierra Highway side.
MT. VESUVIUS IN DOWNTOWN NEWHALL — Folks in Newhall thought they were starring in their own personal disaster movie. Construction workers, for some odd reason, had dug 4 feet underground when a bulldozer hit a water main. A geyser of rocks, mud and water erupted, hitting people and cars on San Fernando Road (today, that’s Main Street). Some of the rocks weighed as much as 4 pounds. Wouldn’t you know it. Signal cartoonist Randy Wicks was caught in the disaster as rocks smashed his windshield and dented his hood. “It was like watching Old Faithful,” said The Signal’s award-winning political cartoonist. Wish Randy was still with us. I’d kid him about getting a check for $12.92 from his insurance company to cover full Blue Book on his 1-cylinder Soviet Yugo …
• • •
Thanks so much for the company all these weekend Santa Clarita morns. Fascinating place we live in, isn’t it? Look forward to riding with all you friends and neighbors next week in another, exciting Time Ranger adventure, 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.
