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Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

Correcting the Record.
An Error Guide for SCV Historians.
By LEON WORDEN
Undated (A Work in Perpetual Progress).

      A typo here, a mistaken conclusion there, and pretty soon the Santa Clarita Valley's historical "facts" aren't facts at all.
      The following is intended as a guide for future SCV historians who, encountering conflicting dates and circumstances from one source to the next, might not immediately know what is correct.
      This information should not be interpreted as criticism of anyone's efforts to preserve and pass on our valley's history; heck, this writer is as guilty as anyone of unwittingly taking erroneous information and repeating it — at least, until better information comes to light, as it often does.
      All of the following "myths" have appeared in print at one point or another. The corresponding "truths" are divined, in this writer's opinion, from the best available sources, often from the primary sources — or as primary as they get.
      That said, there is inevitably the possibility that the information passed on here as "truth" may itself one day be discounted. In the meantime, if you've read something somewhere that seems fishy, please e-mail us here.

ACTON HOTEL FIRE.
Myth: The Acton Hotel burned down in 1942.
Fact: The Acton Hotel burned down on the evening of Oct. 19, 1945. It was probably arson, although this does not appear to have been proven.  (Contemporary account in The Newhall Signal newspaper.)

ASISTENCIA/ESTANCIA DE SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER.
Myth: The Estancia de San Francisco Xavier (1804) was elevated to "asistencia" (sub-mission) status in 1810.
Fact: The estancia, a mission outpost, was probably never elevated to an asistencia. The Mission San Fernando Rey de España had two asistencias, and neither was in the Santa Clarita Valley. (Anthropologist Dr. John Johnson of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (2006), one of the foremost experts on the Indian lifeways of the Santa Clarita Valley area, based on his study of mission records.)

FREMONT PASS/BEALE'S CUT, No. 1.
Myth: Beale dug his cut on the site of Fremont Pass.
Fact: Fremont Pass was located about 1/4-mile east of Beale's Cut, along El Camino Viejo.  (Ripley, et al. A common mistake, thanks to some unfortunate ca. 1908 picture postcards.)

BEALE'S CUT, No. 2.
Myth: Troops from Fort Tejon under Beale's command dug the cut.
Fact: They might have been under his "command" — but only in the sense that he might have hired them. He wasn't in command at Fort Tejon. He was a civilian when he won a $5,000 contract in 1862 from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to improve the roadway over the pass. It's unclear who actually did the digging. Some say it was troops from Tejon. Some say Chinese laborers did the work. (Ripley, et al.)

JAMES DEAN'S LAST MEAL.
Myth: James Dean ate his last meal — pie and milk — in the SCV at Tip's Restaurant.
Fact: Maybe he stopped at Tip's. Maybe he didn't. If he did, it wasn't the last thing he ate. (Click here for a thorough discussion.)

JUAN JOSE FUSTERO, No. 1.
Myth: Juan Jose Fustero was the last full-blooded Tataviam Indian.
Fact: Was he? Don't know. He liked to drink and boast that he was the "Last of the Piru Indians." But a 1965 newspaper story raises the possibility that Fustero's wife was a full-blooded Tataviam, and that they had children. (Los Angeles Herald Examiner newspaper.)

JUAN JOSE FUSTERO, No. 2.
Myth: Juan Jose Fustero died in 1916.
Fact: Fustero died June 30, 1921.  (Certificate of Death, Ventura County Recorder.)

"GENE AUTRY SHOW."
Myth: "The Gene Autry Show" was filmed at Melody Ranch.
Fact: Many movies and television series were filmed at Melody Ranch while Gene Autry owned it, but "The Gene Autry Show" wasn't one of them.  (Per Gene Autry.)

WILLIAM W. JENKINS.
Myth: William W. Jenkins, the "Baron of Castaic," was shot to death by Billy Rose.
Fact: Rose may have shot him, but if so, it wasn't a fatal wound. Jenkins died a few years later at the home of relatives in Los Angeles.  (Obituary in the Los Angeles Times newspaper.)

JOHN LANG AND THE BEAR FLAG.
Myth: John Lang shot and killed a grizzly bear that became the model for California's bear flag.
Fact: John Lang shot his bear in 1873. The bear flag was first hoisted in June 1846. The current California bear flag was adopted in 1911. The model for the current flag was "Monarch," the last California grizzly — and that's how this myth was born. See below. (Multiple sources.)

JOHN LANG AND THE "MONARCH."
Myth: John Lang shot and killed a grizzly bear that was known as the Monarch of the Mountains.
Fact: Supposedly weighing in at more than 2,300 pounds, it was a big bear. But all grizzlies were known generically as monarchs of the mountains. (Perkins actually refers to Lang's bear as the "Monarch of the Coast," for what that is worth.) The one famous grizzly that was known as "Monarch" — believed to be the "last California grizzly" — was captured in October 1889 in the San Gabriel Mountains and caged in a zoological garden in San Francisco until he was euthanized 22 years later (the same year he was immortalized on the state flag). (Multiple sources.)

LOPEZ GOLD DISCOVERY, No. 1.
Myth: Francisco Lopez's March 9, 1842, find in Placerita Canyon was the first gold discovery in California.
Fact: His was the first documented discovery (the filing of the state's first gold mining claim makes it so), but it wasn't the first discovery. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Mexican miners were playing the canyons in the two decades prior to Lopez's discovery, while California was under Spanish, then Mexican, control. Again, this is anecdotal information, and thus — to this writer's knowledge — not documented, and therefore not technically verifiable.  (Multiple sources.)

LOPEZ GOLD DISCOVERY, No. 2.
Myth: Francisco Lopez was a lucky rancher who was sleeping under a tree in Placerita Canyon, dreamed of discovering gold, awoke, dug up some wild onions and found gold clinging to their roots.
Fact: Lucky rancher? Sure, but Lopez knew what he was looking for, having been schooled in mineralogy at the university in Sonora, Mexico. Did he dream of gold beneath the famous oak? Maybe. Or maybe it was just a fancy story he made up. In any case it's an old tale, and worthy of repetition.  (Ruth Newhall.)

LOPEZ GOLD DISCOVERY, No. 3.
Myth: Lopez discovered gold under an oak tree.
Fact: Lopez discovered the gold amid a nearby grove of sycamores, after napping under an oak tree. (Melba Fisher and George Starbuck; see videos: "History of the Santa Clarita Valley With Jerry Reynolds" and "Legacy" with George and Gayle Starbuck.)

ALEX MENTRY DEATH.
Myth: Charles Alexander Mentry, of Mentryville fame, died as a result of a bee sting.
Fact: It wasn't a bee sting. It was a bug bite. The insect, a blood-sucking "cone nose" (genus Triatoma), is commonly known as a "kissing bug," as it often latches onto the lips of its prey and delivers a lethal bite while the victim is in repose.  (This writer has personal knowledge of how the myth started, and by whom. It was a simple mistake.)

MENTRYVILLE 'BIG HOUSE.'
Myth: It was completed in 1898.
Fact: The exact date of completion is lost, but it was definitely finished well before 1898 (which would be two years before Mentry's untimely death). Best guess for a completion date is 1890.  (Carol Lagasse; and photos believed to date earlier than 1898.)

HENRY CLAY NEEDHAM.
Myth: He was a Prohibition Party candidate for U.S. President in 1920.
Fact: He was offically a candidate in 1932, although he at least toyed with the idea of running in earlier years. In 1932, Needham would have been in line to be nominated for President by the Prohibition Party, but he was suffering from a severe case of phlebitis and would have been unable to accept the nomination had he received it..  (Los Angeles Times obituary and family accounts.)

NEWHALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
Myth: The first Newhall School was built in 1887.
Fact: Newhall children were first schooled on the Lyon ranch at the top of Pico Canyon Road (Valencia Marketplace today) in 1878; the first permanent school building opened in 1879 at the northeast corner of Ninth and Walnut streets. It burned down in 1890.  (Multiple sources and photographic records.)

OLD NEWHALL JAIL.
Myth: Nobody knows exactly when the adobe jailhouse was built.
Fact: The Sheriff's Department does. It was completed in 1906. It is unclear whether a wooden building preceded it. (LASD records gathered by Estelle Foley.)

PIONEER OIL REFINERY.
Myth: The first refinery was built at Lyon's Station in 1876 and moved to Andrew's Station in 1878.
Fact: The first refinery was built at Lyon's Station in 1874 and moved to Andrew's Station in 1876.  (Standard Oil Co. of California archival records.)

JUDGE JOHN F. POWELL.
Myth: Judge John F. Powell was the first justice of the Soledad Judicial District.
Fact: Powell might — might — have been the second, but he wasn't the first. The first was J.H. Turner. (Court records. Mistake attributed to misinterpreted handwriting in 1940, when "1878" was mistaken for "1873.")

POWELL'S PALACE SALOON.
Myth: Judge John F. Powell owned the Palace Saloon in 1870s-80s Newhall.
Fact: The proprietor of the Palace Saloon was MIKE Powell. (It's unclear whether Mike was J.F.'s brother; further investigation is necessary.)  (Probably stems from the assumption that there was only one Powell in early Newhall.)

SAUGUS CAFÉ.
Myth: It was called Tolefree's Eating House.
Fact: The correct spelling was Tolfree, and the business name was Saugus Eating House. The proprietor was J.H. (Joseph Herbert) Tolfree — not "James." As it happens, Joseph Herbert Tolfree had a brother, James Hamilton Tolfree, who was not involved in the business.  (A: Source document from the Saugus Eating House; A: Beth Tolfree, descendant.)

SAUGUS TRAIN ROBBERY, No. 1.
Myth: The derailed locomotive was Engine No. 59 (alternately Engine No. 29).
Fact: The TRAIN was No. 59 — aka the San Joaquin Day Light, which ran over the Tehachapi Loop. The train was No. 58 from Los Angeles to San Francisco and No. 59 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The ENGINE had a four-digit number. (Bill Jones, Member, Gateway Model Railroad Club.)

SAUGUS TRAIN ROBBERY, No. 2.
Myth: "Buffalo" Tom Vernon was released from Folsom Prison in the 1960s and died soon thereafter from syphilis.
Fact: Pardon the pun, but the jury is out. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. Some say a Folsom guard swore that Vernon died in prison. A Sacramento-area family says Vernon lived with them following his release in the late 1950s. Somebody REALLY needs to track down his death certificate. (Varying accounts from Jerry Reynolds, John Boston, Carolena Rezendes.)

(FIRST) SOUTHERN HOTEL.
Myth: The Southern Hotel was built in 1878 and burned down in 1888.
Fact: The hotel opened in 1887 and burned down Oct. 23 of the same year.  (Contemporary account written by the proprietor, J.O. Newhall, in "Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World," 1892.)

"STAGECOACH."
Myth: Melody Ranch was the setting for the town of Lordsburg in the 1939 John Ford film, "Stagecoach."
Fact: No part of "Stagecoach" was shot at Melody Ranch. It was shot primarily on the Republic lot, although several other locations were used — including Beale's Cut.  (Several film historians.)

STANDARD OIL COMPANY.
Myth: Standard Oil Co. of Calfornia was acquired by Chevron in 1977.
Fact: Standard Oil of California (SOCAL) created the "Chevron" trademark and used it successfully for many years prior to 1977, when SOCAL decided to rename its domestic operations "Chevron USA Inc." In 1984, SOCAL made the rebranding complete when it acquired Gulf Oil, eliminating the "Standard" name all together in favor of "Chevron."  (Reader Paul Millner, Business Development Manager, Chevron Richmond Refinery, 2008.)

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