Being human, allegedly, I do make mistakes. Made one during last week’s trail ride. I noted that the closest thing to a First Lady the SCV ever produced was the fetching and accomplished tomboy, Lou Henry, whose father was the manager of the Gage Mine in Acton. One of those brain misfirings. Sorry. But I said Lou Henry, who used to play on the slag piles of the mine and live from time to time out here, met a young Herbert Hoover at Stanford and married the future president. In no way was Lou related as in family to Governor Gage.

(Photo caption- Future First Lady, Lou Henry, on a burro, in Acton, in 1891. The photo was taken by E. Nickel, and I believe appeared in the Acton Rooster newspaper. She was about 17.)

Interesting note though, from 1930. Lou (the first female graduate of Stanford) was attending a reunion at Stanford in the 1930s when she was struck by a young motorist.

“The injuries did not kill her but she never fully recovered,” noted Mr. Desmond. “The young driver carried this burden the rest of his life. He went on to fame as Paladin and filmed a lot of his work in the SCV. His name was Richard Boone.”

Interesting thing about Lou. She called her husband, Herbert, “Bert.” The day after they were married in Monterey in 1899, they sailed to China so her husband could scout gold mines. Three times during the newlywed’s stay, she was almost killed during the Boxer Rebellion. One day, she laughed after reading her own obituary in a Los Angeles newspaper and quipped, “I’ll never be this famous again.” She certainly would be. Besides being president of the Girl Scouts, she would be the first First Lady to broadcast regularly. She spoke and wrote several languages, including Chinese and Latin.

Well, thusly purged, shall we saddle up and see some fresh vistas?

WAY, WAY BACK WHEN —

——— Ever wonder why Newhall Pass is called Fremont Pass? On January 12, 1847, that rabble-rouser John C. Fremont and a company of fighting men passed through it.

——— Next day, Newhall chap General Andres Pico, after whom Pico Canyon was named) surrendered to Col. Fremont in what historians call, “The Capitulation of Cahuenga.”

——— On January 15, 1875, multi-millionaire Henry Mayo Newhall purchased most of the Santa Clarita Valley at a Sheriff’s auction sale.

——— Hank Newhall’s pals at the railroad allowed him to name a town after himself and in 1876, Newhall was founded — at Bouquet Junction. But, because of a drought, the whole community moved down the road to around 6th and San Fernando Road. That exodus began on January 15, 1878.

JANUARY 12, 1922 —

——— Pioneer Walton Young had a little extra cash in his pockets on this date. He sold his corner lot near the present-day corner of San Fernando Road and 8th Street to the First National & Valley Savings Bank. The 80-by-120-foot lot already housed a building. It was the general merchandise store owned by G.A. Butler. THAT building was moved south to make way for the new fire-proof bank building. This wasn’t the first time Butler’s store moved. It originally sat facing Railroad Avenue and some of you might know it by its more famous name — Campton’s General Store. Eventually, the First National & Valley Savings Bank would be bought out by Bank of America. Cost for the new FN&VSB? About $6,000.

——— It may have been lovely to look at, but it was quite dangerous. A thick layer of snow blanketed the northern part of the SCV up to Fort Tejon. Back then, motorists had to travel on the very narrow, very steep and very treacherous Ridge Route. The big rigs of the day, which could reach speeds of maybe 5 mph going up hill, were sliding around on the ice.

JANUARY 12, 1932 —

——— Remodeling started on the old Masonic Hall, the former Hap-a-Land Hall, started on this date. The building had ceased being a community center after the St. Francis Dam disaster (when it was used for a morgue). The remodeling included putting in an attic, which is still being used today as The Rafters. In fact, the oak floor up there was the old dance hall in the Hap-a-Land. After the facelift, the building would become the new courthouse. It still sits on Market Street today. Hope the Alcoholics Anonymous groups won’t mind if I share that their meetings are on that same old floor.

——— This isn’t exactly local, but it appeared in your local Signal 70 years back. It was just a photo of basketball player Jack Stewart. The Signal listed him as: “Giant on Court Team” for the Alabama Polytechnic Institute’s cage squad. How big was Jack? Six-foot-five.

JANUARY 12, 1942 —

——— Bob Cuenod was a successful businessman from Switzerland. His dream was to come to California and become a cowboy. For a few short moments, he lived that dream. Cuenod bought a spread in Castaic and a few days after living the Western life, he found himself chopping wood. He somehow managed to miss the kindling, sending his ax deep into his arm, severing an artery. With the loss of blood and infection, he died two days later.

——— In the early days of World War II, there were changes in the SCV. There was an immediate stoppage of auto making. Even if you wanted to buy a car, you need permission from the government. The Ford and Chevy dealerships in Newhall had a full stock of new cars that went unsold. We were the center of a major interstate and traffic was thinning out drastically with gas rationing and the closure of the national forests. There was also a new car-use tax. Coca-cola was rationed and the cost jumped 100 percent over night. Locals hoarded sugar before that could be rationed. Sugar, by the way, was used to make alcohol, which powered ammo-making industries. It took a ton of sugar to create enough energy to fire two shells from a 16-inch gun.

——— As soldiers from various battalions moved into Newhall, many of them had trouble figuring out the tricky SCV winter. It was cold and snowing here in the first part of January. Then, a warm spell came through with the mercury hitting the high 70s. Some of the servicemen from Montana and the Midwest had trouble getting used to the heat wave.

——— The black-out rule was in effect and you didn’t want to break it. The county of Los Angeles mandated a $300 fine or 50 — count them — 50 days in jail for leaving your porch light on after dark. Can’t see why you’d want it on during the day, either.

——— The fear that the Japanese would attack was extreme and locals were prepared. Fire Warden Bill Frownfelter gave a demonstration to hundreds of locals on how to dismantle and extinguish a variety of incendiary bombs. Worry was in this area of woods and oaks, terrorists would start massive forest fires.

JANUARY 12, 1952 —

——— It’s been a scene replayed over and over in Placerita Canyon. Gene Linnens tried to cross the wash in his brand spanking new Studebaker and it washed downstream. Gene swam to safety and they found the new Stude a couple of miles to the west — full of mud with the motor still running. The valley was pretty much a lake. We had a storm that brought 10 inches of rain in five days.

——— On this date, Newhall Navy pilot Ray Kelly was shot down in combat over Korea. His parents owned the old Placeritos Ranch.

——— On this date, George Stevens died up in Oasis Park. In the next few days, locals were surprised when the valley started filling up with hundreds of colorful folks who came by train, bus, car and wagon to mourn George and follow his funeral procession from Newhall into Glendale, where it his coffin was shipped back to Chicago. George was the King of the Gypsies.

JANUARY 12, 1962 —

——— We’ve had several of these grisly accidents over the years. They play out pretty much the same. A hobo hitching a ride on the roof of a boxcar through Newhall was trying to avoid the thick plume of smoke. He tried swinging into the freight car, slipped and fell from under the train. The terrible steel wheels amputated his leg below the knee. He lay on the tracks for nearly an hour before another locomotive pulled up. They rushed him to the local hospital and then onto Los Angeles. Amazingly, he lived through the ordeal.

JANUARY 12, 1972 —

——— Here’s an odd theft for you. Someone broke into Sally Mack’s house and stole a bottle of tequila and a bed sheet. We’re guessing it was either the last remaining member of the Ku Klux Klan or a thief who wanted something cozy to sleep on after passing out from the tequila.

——— Highway fatalities continued to drop. The new figures released showed 34 people killed in traffic accidents in 1971. That compares to 63 people killed in 1969 and 53 in 1970. As the valley population grew, so did drunk driving arrests. There were 510 taken into custody in 1968 and that rose steadily to 927 in 1971.

——— Although girls were allowed, they were called the SCV Boys Club and on this date, they got a brand new home. Well. Sort of. The club moved their headquarters from the old church on 6th and Newhall into the very old Pardee House, built in the 1880s. The Pardee House was bought by the telephone company and sat vacant for years, until Bob Ross moved his club into it for a nominal leasing fee to the phone people.

JANUARY 12, 1982 —

——— There were many happy faces around town. After a drawn-out and acrimonious fight for two years, the IT Corporation withdrew their application to build a 720-acre toxic dump near to Sand Canyon. IT was facing a rejection of their project by the county and withdrew their plans, in part, as a ploy to see if they could refile at a later date. The dump was never built.

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Sure has been fun sharing the back trails of history with you, dear saddlepals. See you next Thursday back here at The West Ranch Beacon with another exciting Time Ranger adventure, and, until then, vayan con Dios, amigos!