Top of this odd September morning, saddlepals. Sure has been an unusual summer- colder than Pluto, hotter than Mercury then a crisp end of August. Feeling more like end of October than the dog days of summer. We’ve got a most interesting trail ride through time ahead. There’s earthquakes and world-famous bird-watchers, grisly human finds and carhopping mountain lions. It was 48 years ago when Melody Ranch burned to the ground and this is the anniversary of when Bill Hart donated the American Theater. (Photo: My dear buddy, Fred Trueblood MVIX or whatever Roman numeral follows his name — his dad and newspaper editor Fred Trueblood MVVIII (estimated) shot this photo of the main street of Melody Ranch burning to the ground in 1962.)

C’mon. Left foot in the stirrup, little bounce and swing the other leg up and over. Gentle but firm on the reins and into the enticing void we ride… 

WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —

• The town of Saugus was founded on Sept. 1, 1887, along with the train depot AND the long-lost train depot in Castaic. Saugus, by the way, was named after the boyhood home of Henry Mayo Newhall. That’d be Saugus, Mass. They’re our sister city and just a tad bit older, sneaking up on 400-years- young.

• Using a silver hammer to drive a golden nail, zillionaire Charles Crocker drove the final spike into the railroad tracks linking Los Angeles with San Francisco. That was Sept. 5, 1876 for you date-takers.

• Here’s some trivia guaranteed to make people walk away from you at the next Valencia Yuppie cocktail party. In the 19th century, it took 4:34 man-hours to produce one bushel of corn. In the early 20th century, with the aid of machinery, that task was cut to 41 minutes.

• It was called Alpine and is known as The Missing Depot. Located between Acton and Palmdale at Alpine Springs, the railroad never got around to finishing their Alpine station.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1920 —

• Newhall Elementary went hi-tech. On this date, they started their new school year with a new-fangled contraption called a slide projector. I think life might have been a bit better without all this technology to keep us away from one another.

• Teacher Mrs. Beckley started the first Audubon Society chapter here. Charles Himself camped out at Castaic in the early 19th century to study birds. Or, if you’re from New York, “boids.”

• Silent film superstar didn’t even live in Newhall then. But locals were motoring over the hill into San Fernando to the Cody Theatre to catch him in his oater, “The Toll Gate.”

• It’s often amazing how affordable housing was way back when. On this date, a local farmer was moving out of town and had up for sale a brand new Bradley plow. He paid $125, never used it and was asking $100. That works out to about 1/6th the cost of a brand new home in Saugus in 1920 money. Can you imagine paying $60,000 today for a simple farm implement? Well. Of course you can’t. Most of you live in townhouses so never mind. 

SEPTEMBER 2, 1930 —

• A sharp earthquake set the furniture dancing 8/10ths of a century ago. It cracked fireplaces and broke windows in Santa Monica, where it was centered. There was no significant damage locally, except for some shattered nerves.

• Father John O’Connell of our local Catholic church came back with the season’s first true fish story. He said he had only one bite and caught just one fish — six inches long. The padre threw it back because it was too small.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1940 —

• On this date, silent film star William S. Hart donated a corner lot on Spruce Street and 11th for the construction of The American Theater. He also donated $10,800 for construction costs and would later kick in more money for the completion. He donated the building to the American Legion. There’s no theater anymore but the building is still there and the American Legion rents it out for parties. If you’re so moved, call 259-7507. Interesting, too, it didn’t take a decade to build the darn place.

• And while folks were waiting for the American to be built, the old Masonic Hall was the place where folks went to watch movies. Every once in a while, the Masons would get their mitts on a picture. This week, 60 years back, locals were watching Jack London’s, “Wolf Call.” It cost 20 cents to get in, a dime for kids. Darn movie was less than an hour long, too.

• Mrs. Blanche Sutton attracted quite a bit of attention, driving around town. She bagged a 110-pound mountain lion and had it strapped to the front fender of her car.

• How’s this for Signal Sports coverage? “Mexican umpires were blamed by Manager Babe Matheny for the Newhall-Saugus Merchants beating at the hands of the San Fernando Missions in San Fernando. According to the Babe, the home umps had no idea the plate had corners on it.”

• Hard to believe but people used to drive up to Newhall just for the scenery back in 1940.

• Pitiful scraps of humanity were discovered up Mint Canyon. A meal for the coyotes, the partially devoured remains of a man were found by hikers, along with a weathered albeit succinct note in his pocket: “Suicide, sick, Broke, no friends, no relatives.”  

SEPTEMBER 2, 1950 —

• The Signal used to have to send out their photographs to Los Angeles to be processed for the paper. This week, they were lost in the mail and subscribers had to just read about a fire in Railroad Canyon without any pictures (like the one shot by Fred Trueblood). Fighting flames in wretched, humid 111-degree heat, firemen stopped the brushfire just 50-feet away from the home of John Yurosek, father of Gary Yurosek, who would later become actor Gary Lockwood. Great trivia: Gary played in the Hart High backfield with NFL legend and actor, Joe Kapp.

• We used to have several hog farms here in the SCV, from huge to small. Hogs were used to consume garbage from L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. Locals tried fighting the growing number of stinky ranches and had a little help from something called vesicular exanthema. V.E. was the pig equivalent of hoof and mouth disease and a local outbreak caused a massive quarantine plus the destruction of many hogs.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1960 —

• Pioneer Frank Schaffer died. He had come to Newhall in 1915 and served on the Newhall School District, helping the downtown area transition from a mining camp to a village. His wife, Margaret, was the first president of the Newhall PTA in 1917. Interestingly, Frank shared a common thread with town founder, Henry Mayo Newhall. Both men lost their wives to death. Both men married their wife’s sister.

• Bill Santa Maria retired as local fire chief of 31 years. He came from one of California’s original families. 

AUGUST 28, 1962 —

• Back on this date, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon burned to the ground. It was later purchased by the Veluzat family, who sent SOSs around the world for entertainment people to send in photographs of what the ranch looked like so they could replicate it exactly. The boys did pretty near a perfect job. They also knew how to make a buck, renting the burnt-out studio that same week to a movie company making a WW2 flick… 

SEPTEMBER 2, 1970 —

• Soledad Canyon Road used to be a narrow two-lane highway from the Bouquet to Sierra Highway junctions. It was a dangerous stretch of road and in the first nine months of 1970, there were 46 accidents on it. A citizens’ committee was formed to widen Soledad. The group called themselves “Four for Five or Fight.” The name came from four men on the committee who were trying to widen 5 miles of Soledad.

• Today, many of us are fighting the Transit Mixed Concrete project up Soledad. Thirty years ago today, another group of citizens were fighting a controversial gravel pit that was spilling contaminants into the Santa Clara River in pretty close to the same spot.

• The local Ford dealership unveiled a sporty new prototype for sale for the first time. The vehicle was called, “The Pinto.” And no. They didn’t advertise the exploding gas tank…

SEPTEMBER 2, 1980 —

• Thirty years ago, the Sam Dixon Health Clinic was dedicated in Val Verde. The center was named after a dear man, Sam Dixon, who built the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in which the clinic now rests.

• The pie-throwing debacle at our oddball little government entity — The Northwestern Los Angeles County Resource Conservation District — continued. Chairman and convicted felon Marcus Frishman was voted out after years of acrimonious shoving matches and hijinx (one member used to bring beer and drink it from a sack during meetings; another was a certified mental patient who let himself out to attend meetings). But after being voted out, Frishman continued to sneak into the office after hours. The board voted to consider criminal charges against him. Frishman had just had 2,000 new business cards made with NWLACRCD money, still listing him as a director and chairman. 

• • • 

That shimmering vista in the distance is our time warp and our trail has come full circle, right under the warm glow of The West Ranch Beacon. I’ll see you next Thursday with another exciting Time Ranger adventure and until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!