Top of the August 2024 morn to you, trail riders and dear friends of local history. We’ve a most interesting trek ahead, what with some eye-wateringly dumb crooks and an apparent strongarm kidnapping on the main streets of Newhall in — say it with me — BROAD DARN DAYLIGHT. Other historical stuff, too.
I can’t even mention why Newhall Pool was closed. You and the horses will have to see for yourselves ..
. WAY, WAY BACK WHEN THINGS SURELY HAVE CHANGED SINCE THEN — Perhaps THE most significant date in SCV history is Aug. 8, 1769.
Prior to that square on the calendar, Indians lived here for thousands of years — without hardly any change whatsoever. On this date, 255 years ago, Spaniard Gaspar de Portola and his party of explorers and missionaries came through what would later be Newhall Pass and camped out at Castaic Junction. Since that time, the valley has undergone a dizzying change of culture, landscape, economics and development.
Can any of us possibly imagine what the valley will look like on this date, 255 years hence, in the year, 2279 A.D.? THANKS, PADRE JOHNNY — Ever wonder why we’re the Santa Clarita Valley in the first place? On Aug.
10, 1769, a Father Juan Crespi was sitting by a year-round running stream and writing in his diary. He noted that the date coincided with the Catholic feast day of Saint Clare and named the river such. For years, the place was called the Little Santa Clara River Valley, so as not to be confused with ANOTHER Santa Clara River Valley in northern California.
The term, “Santa Clarita,” first surfaced in the 1930s as a romantic term for the place. BADGER FORT — Same day, Aug. 10, but this time, in the year 1854, Fort Tejon was established.
JUST A REGULAR WORK HAZARD — Life was tough being a miner in the SCV in 1869. A letter from one grubstaker noted: “Late January saw more Indian trouble. Noah Crisco suffered an arrow wound.
” JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED? — We’ve covered the sometimes confusing aspect of local jurisprudence history. An old record from A.B.
Perkins noted that J.D. LaRue was justice of the peace of Soledad Township and that he “must have been the first elected to that office.
” THE THRIVING METROPOLIS — In 1873, it was estimated there were about 1,000 permanent residents of Acton and that the town included 12 to 15 buildings, including a school, two stores, a hotel and a blacksmith shop. A little history trivia? Before Sacramento, Acton was such a thriving community it was briefly considered as California’s state capitol. AUGUST 10, 1924 WALK, DON’T RUN — Before the Walk family owned the gas station on the south end of Sierra Highway, just south of the underpass, it was owned by the Scherzinger family.
On this date, a new flatbed truck carting 6 tons of alfalfa caught fire. It stopped traffic in both directions for hours. One engineering tip hopefully learned: Don’t place the battery right underneath where you’re going to stack the hay.
That’s what started the fire. KIND OF IRONIC, ISN’T IT? A SILENT MOVIE WITH A SINGING COWBOY? — One of Bill Hart’s last pictures was “Singing Sam McKee.” It was filmed entirely on his ranch in Newhall.
ART IMITATES LIFE — Some local residents called the sheriff’s when they heard gunfire and witnessed a gang of men carting off a beautiful young woman. Turned out they were just shooting a movie. GREAT JOB.
FREE MEALS AND YOU GET TO CRUISE AROUND ON A MOTORCYCLE — Lt. Strickland of the Army (ours) and eight men set up camp in Bouquet Canyon. Back then, the Army helped out local forest rangers patrol the canyons of the Santa Barbara National Forest (of which a chunk of the SCV was part).
The soldiers rode in pairs on motorcycles, looking for smoke or troublemakers. They usually found both. AUGUST 10, 1934 LOUSY LUCK LAMBERT — It was not a good day for D.
J. Lambert. He collided with a Union Oil truck on Mint Canyon.
There were no injuries to either parties and slight damage. But literally, a few minutes later, Lambert collided with a series of cars, leaving bodies strewn all over the road. AND THERE WERE MORE ‘GANG MEMBERS’ HERE THAN RESIDENTS — There were 166 Civilian Conservation Corps camps in California.
We had eight of them. The CCCs were federally funded work gangs that built everything from schools to bridges. There were camps in the following canyons here: Bear, Pine, Warm Springs, Castaic, Soledad, Mint, Bouquet and Lake Hughes.
AUGUST 10, 1944 OUR WAR HERO EDITOR — Fred Trueblood II was a second lieutenant in the tank corps during World War II. On this date, he was in a hellish fight with a German artillery and Panzer division. He was in the turret when it was hit by an explosion from an enemy shell blast.
He survived in a surrealistic haze and ended up at a medic’s tent later. Trueblood would take over for his father, Fred I, as editor of The Signal. GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED FLOODING — After getting the main drag through Downtown Newhall repaved, local mucky mucks were scratching their heads.
Seems the new layer (with no drainage) added over 2 inches to the road, creating a potential flooding nightmare. AUGUST 10, 1954 ’T’WEREN’T A MINI -ALLIGATOR — The thermometer blessedly dipped. We had been suffering under high triple-digit temperatures and sauna bath-like humidity.
Bathers crammed into Newhall Pool in record numbers. There were so many people trying to beat the heat, they had to recycle swimmers into the water in large groups. Right during one of the worst days, the pool had to be evacuated.
Seems some child was not properly house — er, pool — trained and left a floating present bobbing atop the water. People groaned as they read the sign outside the entrance: “The management regrets the unfortunate accident resulting in the clearing of the pool for emergency sanitation procedures. The pool was completely disinfected and will be open for business tomorrow.
” AUGUST 10, 1964 THE MULTI-MILLION-GALLON HAZARD — On this date, The Newhall Land & Farming Co. started filling up one of their manmade lakes on the new Valencia golf course. The pond held 13 million gallons.
Give or take. AUGUST 10, 1974 AH, THE CRIMINAL MIND — On this date, Ronnie Linicome and Jackie White were pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. Reason? They had a giant coin-operated cigarette machine sticking out of their car trunk.
Further inspection by the CHiPS found a sawed-off shotgun and other illegal weaponry. Alibi? Boys said they found the stuff abandoned in a gas station parking lot up Sierra Highway. Were they arrested? Yes.
HART, CANYON AND WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST — A group of touring teens from Hart and Canyon and their chaperones had to alter their vacation plans. Seems another conflict in Cyprus caused them to take a wide detour around the isle. They also took a pass on visiting Israel for the same reason.
Hm. Do you think if there’s still a Signal and a Time Ranger 10,000 years from now, they’ll still be covering, War in the Middle East? WHERE DID I GET THIS GUY!?!?!?! — On this date, my best friend and Signal and syndicated movie critic, Phil Lanier, panned another classic. This time, Philzy poo gave a thumbs down to the Redford/Newman vehicle, “The Sting.
” Cripes, Phil ...
DEMOCRATS GET THE LAST LAUGH — The local Democrats had earlier scheduled a big all-you-can-eat-for-$1 spaghetti feast at Saxonia Park as a fundraiser. They didn’t realize they had scheduled it the exact same time vice president and Republican Gerald Ford was going to be a few miles away at California Institute of the Arts, speaking to nearly 10,000 people all jammed in the parking lot. Gerald never made the engagement.
That day in August, he was sworn in as president after Richard Milhous Nixon resigned. Sidebar: Some deep pockets GOP daddy reportedly kicked in $2,000 to help bring the veep here. Wonder if he got a refund? GOOD CIRCULATION — This has no historical bearing whatsoever.
But, on this date, Signal reporter Rich “Buck Drango” Varenchik and Signal circulation babe Cindy Anderson were engaged. Quoth Mr. Varenchik: “I met her in circulation; she quickened my circulation; she’s taking me out of circulation.
” Best be careful what you say in a small town, Rich ...
Other than that, RV may have been the best cops and crimes reporter ever to pound a beat in California. AUGUST 10, 1984 DUMB CLUCK — Chuck Quiring of Modesto made an unscheduled stop at the Mobil gas station on Lake Hughes Road. Seems his brakes went out and he smashed into the building with his double rig truck.
His cargo? Chickens. Those that escaped beat the heat by turning the open women’s room into a coop. It took more than a while to round up the girls.
BUREAUCRATS COUNTING SKIN PIGMENTATION — The comedy continued with the Newhall School District Desegregation Committee. The band was put together to study racial imbalances, specifically at Newhall Elementary. Someone wondered if such a committee was needed, seeing that Newhall Elementary was already 45.
6% minority and the committee spent much of its time debating whether it should disband. LA GETS A BAD RAP — On this date, a merry prankster hung a sign on southbound Interstate 5 at Calgrove Boulevard. The official-looking billboard read: “WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that Los Angeles is dangerous to your health.
” Heavens. I’ve visited there once. It’s not that bad .
.. • • • Thank you yet again for spending part of your Saturday mornings with me and The Mighty Signal, dear saddlepals.
Sure as taxes and political hyperbole, I’ll be back next weekend with another exciting Time Ranger adventure, and, until then — “ ¡Vayan con Dios, amigos!” If you do love local history and reading about ghosts, myths and monsters, visit Boston’s bookstore at johnbostonbooks.com . Pick up JB’s two-volume set of “MONSTERS” on local horror and macabre .
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