Maybe it’s because Halloween is so close, but, this morning, we’ve got a disturbing amount of teenage girl mayhem and some very bizarre accidents. We’ve got world-class hikers, puma killers and perhaps the most patient woman if not in the world, certainly this valley. C’mon, dear saddlepals. Rub the sleep from those eyes. Undo pride and cowboying not belonging in the same sentence, we’ll let you use a fence railing to climb into the saddle.

(CAPTION: OCTOBER 29, 1932 — They had the ribbon-cutting for the brand spanking new Highway 99 on this date, through Weldon Canyon. It effectively bypassed some of the old Ridge Route. Along with 99 came a new-fangled invention that had dozens of locals standing in the middle of the new highway, staring at it. It was called the double yellow no-passing line. Lots of folks felt it was more a suggestion than the law. Interestingly, the double yellow line was invented by English farmer George Bamber in the 19th century. He first used it as a brand on his sheep, then as a road-marking system in the village of Yorkshire. The mayor paid Bamber 10 percent of every fine he collected. Originally, the double yellow line meant no stopping. ) 

OCTOBER 27, 1921 —

— World War I vets S. Tracy Greene and Joe Felshim passed through Newhall on this date. They marched through town in military-issue uniforms carrying little except some canvas they’d unroll for little lean-to tents. The men were both professional writers on a 7-year zig-zag hike around the world. They had walked through every state in the Union, except Oregon and Washington, to which they were headed. They had already strolled through the likes of — but not in this order — Canada, Egypt, Arabia, Greece, India, China and Peru.

— The local teacher at Newhall Elementary was asking rather politely for a wood-burning stove to take the chill of autumn mornings. The district was both sympathetic and a bit reticent. Seems Newhall Elementary had a long and checkered history of burning to the ground. That is — we assure you — all ancient history now.

OCTOBER 27, 1931 —

— Work began full swing to build the Bouquet Reservoir and Dam. A four-mile tunnel connected to Power Plants 1 and 2 in San Francisquito Canyon was started and about 1,200 men worked on the project. Lots of locals were feeling a little apprehensive over the Bouquet Reservoir, what with the horrific breaking of the St. Francis Dam just three years earlier. One worker, Bill Gardner, was the first casualty of the Bouquet project. He lost his arm when a valve blew off. Interesting how The Signal described it: “Gardner received other injuries, but none as serious except for the arm.” Which is like the old question: “Well other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”

— A. Freeman, local hunter, killed 18 mountain lions within the previous year.

— A Signal editorial wondered if we should “regulate regulations.” The op/ed piece called for less government and commissions, noting that after all sorts of new real estate licensings and laws, the state actually had more real estate fraudulent dealings AFTER the legislation. Remember the local hubbie & wife team, the Wieners and their world record fraud?

— Hal Roach was in town on this date, making one of his famous pie-throwing comedies at the Saugus train depot.

OCTOBER 27, 1941 —

— Uncle Sam asked the Newhall-Saugus branch of the Red Cross to do their part in knitting 400,000 sweaters for the war effort. Mrs. Sam Rowland, local chairwoman, made weekly treks into L.A. to bring back several miles of yarn for the task.

— Four cattle rustlers were caught red-handed in San Francisquito Canyon, with Bailey Haskell’s 400-pound whiteface calf in the trunk of their car. Acting on reports of the men running through the willows about a half-mile from the old dam site, local Sheriff’s deputies pounced. The found the four men, the calf and the rifle that shot it in a car on the side of San Francisquito Canyon Road. Despite the damning evidence, two of the men denied they had anything to do with the theft. The gang, from the San Fernando Valley, were behind a year-long rustling reign of terror here in which about 50 beeves were kidnapped. One of the rustlers, from behind bars, noted: “I wish it was the old days,” he said, “when they strung up rustlers up in a hurry and I could get this over with.”

OCTOBER 27, 1951 —

— Mac McCanlies of C & M Feed had a new-fangled invention that had many local rubes scratching their foreheads and grinning sheepishly. It was a gasoline-powered lawnmower that not only cut grass, but vacuumed it up as well, eliminating raking.

— Leonardo Hidalgo had the dubious honor of being the latest hobo to lose a leg after falling from a train. Hidalgo was attempting to jump between cars on a moving freight. Some say he was lucky to just lose a leg.

OCTOBER 27, 1961 —

— We have had more than our fair share of freakish accidents. This ranks right up there. A 15-year-old North Hollywood boy was the passenger in a convertible Jeep. He feel asleep north of Castaic, fell out of the doorless vehicle and flew through a billboard, killing himself. Wonder if he ever woke up.

— And from the This Death ’Til Us Part — Is That Like In Concrete? Dept. — we had a runaway truck accident down the Grapevine. A husband and wife trucker team was toting some giant generators for the Air Force. They were coming down the grade when their transmission blew up. Faster, faster, faster, the truck gained speed. He tried to slow it down by dragging the right side (where his wife sat) next to the enbankment. It worked for a while, but the truck was still a runaway. The driver climbed out on the running board and had an argument with his wife, trying to convince her to jump with him. She wouldn’t. In fact, she shimmied over to the driver’s side. He bade farewell and rolled to safety. She managed to ride the monster truck a few miles more to an upgrade and was able to safely pull it over to the side. Those silly little married arguments…

OCTOBER 27, 1971 —

— Bill Park, who gained notoriety earlier in the year by taking a blowtorch to his water meter over a $3.50 billing disagreement, kept the feud going. Park ran for a seat on the Newhall County Water board.

— Residents of Placerita Canyon are currently being threatened with removal of several dozen oaks to put in an unwanted sewer for The Master’s College. On this date, 40 years ago, neighbors in the Canyon fought L.A. County and their proposal to widen Placerita to a four-lane highway, effectively shaving oak trees and putting the road in people’s kitchen windows. Supervisor Warren Dorn, who had been hung in effigy earlier, was buried — in effigy — by the Placerita Homeowners Association. Eventually, due the noisy protests by the Placerites, the oaks were saved.

— A Saugus man had the patience of Job. He had taken his wrecked Porsche in to a local mechanic four years earlier and the mechanic still hadn’t finished it four years later.

OCTOBER 27, 1981 —

— A 17-year-old Hart coed approached a young man in Old Orchard Park and demanded that he both surrender some marijuana and his boots. He did neither. She slit his throat with a switchblade. He ran to the Newhall Bowl and summoned help. He was patched up nicely and she was thrown into the poky.

— Same night, four local high school girls ganged up on a fifth girl. They tortured her, beat her, cut off her long hair and did many other unmentionable atrocities. The four little monsters ran away from home and were apprehended a week later. Their young victim had had open heart surgery a year earlier.

— This certainly was an odd parenthesis of girl teen-age violence. In the third case of brutality, a 16-year-old Saugus girl was arrested for seriously beating up another co-ed on campus.

— Eventually, The Signal DOES get it right. Mabel Chacanaca had visited the former local paper three times, trying to get a copy of her wedding story, which appeared on the front page of The Signal. The first time, right after her marriage, the then-editor promised to get Mabel a copy, but never got around to it. Mabel waited 20 years and asked again. The then-editor promised to get her a copy of the story. He didn’t. Finally, she went in to see Ruth Newhall. Ruth had to go to the microfish at the Valencia Library to produce a copy of Mabel’s wedding coverage and handed it over to the bride — who was, by then, a widow. Mabel Murray had married Harry Chacanaca on Nov. 15, 1919 and 62 years later, she finally got the clipping.

— — — — — — —

Welp. We’ve ridden full circle. Thanks for the company, dear saddlepals. Don’t forget. Halloween’s next Monday and best you pay a visit to Farmer Nancy on Magic Mountain Parkway and buy a bunch of pumpkins from her. She’s been sort of fenced in by the highway widening and could use some company. Have a fun trick-or-treating and until next time, vayan con Dios, amigos!