Top of a Thursday webmorning to you and for those of you with stiff necks who never watch where they’re going, happy iTimeRanger to you. We’ve got certainly an interesting ride through the portals of SCV time this morning. We’ve got chainsaw-toting religious folks in Placerita, the Ayatollah Khomeini in Newhall, a new, smarter way to rodeo and the darn dumbest sheep farmer you never want to meet. There’s human tragedy and human poetry. There’s — well. There’s a lot. Hop in that saddle and let’s see what’s what… 

(Photo: Sure hope this doesn’t happen every 40 years. This week marks the anniversary of the Northridge Quake, which pretty much shook the holy heck and then some out of the SCV. Above, the Newhall Overpass parted.) 

WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —

— One would have a local pass named after him. The other, a canyon. On January 13, 1847, General Andres Pico surrendered to Col. John C. Fremont at the Capitulation of Cahuenga.

— San Francisco mogul Henry Mayo Newhall purchased the Rancho San Francisco — essentially the entire Santa Clarita Valley — in a sheriff’s auction on January 15, 1875. He bought 90,000 acres for a little less than $2 per. In today’s money, that wouldn’t buy you a medium-sized house in Valencia.

— Same day, January 15, but three years later in 1878, the newly formed town of Newhall moved lock, stock and barrel from its location near present-day K-Mart down the road to where 6th and San Fernando Road is today. A drought caused them to pull up stakes. Around the same time, another community, known as Andrews,  Kazinski, or Lyons Station moved to the Newhall location from around where Eternal Valley is.

— George Campton opened the Newhall Post Office in his general store on January 16, 1877.

— It wasn’t exactly the FIRST Catholic church in the valley. After all. We had the old San Francisco Mission. But, the Our Lady Of Perpetual Help parish was founded on January 17th, 1915. Priests from Mission San Fernando would come up to hold services — some of them in the old Saugus train depot. 

JANUARY 13, 1921 —

— The Signal called for more building in the little Santa Clara River Valley: “There is one thing that we need —  more houses. For houses are at a premium and we believe that the population would double in a short time if there were increased housing capacity.” Hm. Wonder if Editor Blanche Brown would say that if she could see the valley today.

— We got ourselves a bona fide French chef “…from gay Paree.” The Russell’s hired Louis LeJeunne as head cook at their family restaurant in town. By the way. A full course dinner at Russell’s Newhall Cafe was only 50 cents.

— Crowded classes are nothing new. There were three teachers employed at Newhall Elementary. Mr. Ringnalda had 34 pupils, Miss Daugherty had 43 and Mrs. Beckley had 36 for a grand school total of 113.

JANUARY 13, 1931 —

— We had a real old-fashioned cops and robbers chase. Local sheriff’s chased some bad guys through Piru where they roared through the graveyard, knocking over several tombstones. Damage was assessed at $15. And, of course, both parties were probably haunted.

— Rabies were a real problem in America, certainly so in the SCV. Ted Kornelissen had to put a bullet in the head of his beloved German shepherd when he developed the dreaded hydrophobia.

— We’ll pull off the trail for a moment so I can read you this small item. I’m including this simply because it is one of the best written paragraphs ever to appear in The Signal. It was from our unnamed Mint Canyon columnist: “Marvel of beauty, the Chicalope Mountains covered with snow, and them a background of blue and gold, purple and old rose. Sometimes we have hard times in our valley, but isn’t it a lovely place to live and grow? Some day we’ll look back on these days and smile, and say, “do you remember the time it was so cold?” And it will just make another story to tell in the firelight glow. All I can say is, don’t give up the ship. Good times are coming. (The newspaper says so.)” 

JANUARY 13, 1941 —

— A local high school girl attending San Fernando High was brutally attacked and raped by five boys from prominent San Fernando Valley families. They fled to various parts of the country — as far away as Texas and Utah. Local sheriff’s captain Marty and investigator Rittenhouse hunted the boys down and brought them back for trial.

— It wasn’t a very pleasant week in the Santa Clarita. Someone mutilated two young horses at the Cuenod Ranch in Castaic.

— World War II was being felt here in the SCV. While American involvement was official for nearly a year, many young men were leaving the farms and ranches to work at various aircraft and munitions plants. Rancher Seth Biglus up Sand Canyon lost three good hands off his small spread the same week. Of course, just about anything in aviation pays better than cowboying and weed abatement.

— Hutch Blunts of the Triple Bull Ranch up Soledad was a rodeo performer who had a little more smarts than most. In the off season, he invited a friend — Cid Cequella — to stay with him. Cid was a world-renowned circus performer and acrobat famous for being able to land on his feet from any position. Hutch had Cid teach him how to land boots first from any angle off a bronco. 

JANUARY 13, 1951 —

— A faulty kerosene lamp exploded and sent an ancient Val Verde cabin up like oiled kindling. Poor Jim Lee was inside, asleep on his sofa and died a quick but horrible death.

— It was the week for terrible accidents. Chester Ferguson, formerly of Warm Springs Rehab, fell off the wagon and it cost him his life. Sheriff’s deputies surmised he had gotten drunk, went for a walk near Piru Creek, fell in and drowned in just eight inches of water.

JANUARY 13, 1961 —

— Corwin Marsh never got to finish breakfast. His wood-burning stove overheated and his little Bear Canyon cabin started to burn. Firefighter Roy Smith nearly lost his life battling the blaze, but not in a manner you’d expect. After putting out most of the fire, Smith walked into the smoldering cabin. A loaded rifle leaning against a chair exploded, sending a round of ammo that missed Smith by inches. 

JANUARY 13, 1971 —

— Baptist minister Ray Rentz was quoted: “I love trees. There are no tree haters in our congregation.” Still, the neighbors around the Grace Baptist Church on Placeritos were up in arms when the church and then Los Angeles Baptist College cut down several gigantic heritage oaks to make way for a parking lot and baseball field. Said one neighbor, Judy Balfour: “Their attitude seemed to be ‘this is our land now and we’ll just do whatever we please with it.’” Rentz said he was surprised that the trees were cut down and said he thought they were rotten. He also noted that no more trees would be felled, “Unless they were in the way.”

— On this date, the Hart Board of Trustees noted that it would be OK for students (male) of the two then-schools, Hart and Canyon, to grow beards and mustaches. Of course, if they did, they couldn’t attend Hart or Canyon. But, they could attend the new Bowman school. Male facial hair was considered a disciplinary problem.

— Here’s something you won’t see in print today. It was a caption under a COC basketball photo. It read: “Regis Malone leaps high in Saturday’s game…” Our Castaic pal used to be a star at Cougarland 40 years back…

— I’m not going to mention his name just in case the poor fella still might live in town. Let’s just say this mini-rancher must have missed the Basic Barnyard Safety class in 4H many years earlier. Our anonymous lamb buster made a make-shift manger in his Saugus carport for his four pet sheep. To keep the sheep warm in the cold January evenings, he laid out hay — and — a heat lamp IN THE CARPORT. Surprise of surprises, the sheep kicked some straw into the heat lamp, the straw caught fire, Carpenter ran out and tried to extinguish it with his hands and knees. Instead of roasted mutton, we had singed moron.

— Way back when, they were just called fruit and vegetable stands. We still have many of them. But 40 years back, locals were awed by a new phenomenon to hit the SCV — the health food store. Locals were chuckling about the Honey Bun serving such oddball things as carrot juice and organic sprouts.  

JANUARY 13, 1981 —

— The old Santa Clarita National Bank (today, Union Bank) on Lyons had an unusual memo on their marquee. It was during the Iranian hostage crisis. The bank’s note? “Will Rogers never met Khomeini.” 

JANUARY 17, 1994 — 

— The earth shook, rattled and rolled. And so did we. A 6.8 magnitude quake centered in Northridge crippled the valley on this date, just seven years ago. Remember where you were? Most of us were all in the same place. In bed. 

—   —   — 

Now that wasn’t so bad. Sure wouldn’t mind meeting you dear saddlepals next Sunday for another time ride through time. Until then, vayan con Dios, amigos! 
 

(Rumor is, John Boston is writing two more SCV history books, to be launched at this year’s Cowboy Fest. One is Crooks & Heroes, a History of Crime and Lawmen in the SCV. The other is Monsters, Mutants & Mayhem A History of Bizarre Crimes & Creatures in the Santa Clarita Valley. For more terribly interesting John Boston reads, visit daily thebostonreport.net.)