Six grave markers and a large monument bearing the Ruiz family name figure prominently in the Ruiz family cemetery
in San Francisquito Canyon. They are the final resting places of Rosaria and Enrique Ruiz and four of their children,
ages eight to thirty, who perished in the St. Francis Dam disaster of March 12-13, 1928.
Early California rancheros maintained their own family cemeteries on their lands. The Ruiz
family, who farmed in San Francisquito Canyon as early as the mid-1800s, was no exception. The Ruiz
family cemetery may have been the Santa Clarita Valley's largest private burial ground. One grave marker dates back to 1888,
and some may be older. Of note is a gravestone inscribed "Niebes Ruiz, Born 1794, Died 1904."
(According to great-granddaughter Michelle Nuñez, birth records indicate that Niebes Ruiz
was actually born about 1812.)
The cemetery lies on a tranquil hilltop approximately one-quarter mile south of the dam site.
Identification by A.B. Perkins and Leon Worden.
