Page 16 - eternalvalley1958

rolling hills. Adjacent co the Hotel, carriage sheds, livery stables, corrals and planted
parks were built.
Near the town, Sanford Lyon was farming 200 acres and John Mitchell had 600 colonies
of bees in the Soledad Canyon. Most of the small local ranchers in the foothills and
canyons nearby stuck closely co dry farming, grazing, live stock and bees.
In the town, J. 0. Newhall, an eastern cousin of the city's founder, opened a general score
across the street from the Southern Hotel. A new school district was established at
Sulphur Springs in 1879 for the convenience of the growing population, and the New-
THE MAIN STREET OF NEWHALL IN 1887
hall Grammar School was built. A gift from H. M. Newhall co his town, it was a two
gap in the economy of the community. Many of the men drifted into nearby oil fields. story frame structure.
Intermittent stage coach hold-ups, the introduction of "iron safes" on the stages with ~utside of Newhall's payroll, oil in one· phase or another was the major contributor to
two locks manufactured in such a way chat "powder will not explode them," the organi- the town's support. A contemporary description called attention to the new cownsite's
zation of the Newhall School district and the opening of a boarding house and small "endless diversity of landscape, hill and dale constantly succeeding each ocher, the whole
saloon were events chat characterized the year 1877. dotted with hundreds of venerable live oak trees as beauteous in foliage and as stately
in growth as the leafy patriarchs of many an English Park .. . but it is to the new pro-
The cownsite did not prosper however, and in 1878 it was moved three miles south.
priecor that the area owes its development ... "
Along with all the buildings, the name, coo, moved. It became "Newhall" officially on
Daily monocony was broken by the arrival of the trains, and the Ventura Stage which
February 5, 1878.
left from the Southern Hotel. The Dances at the Southern on Saturday night highlighted
Henry Newhall was fifty-two years old. After working hard all his life and accumulating
each week's social activities. An entertaining account by Lou Ledger cells of the dances
great wealth, he interested himself in his namesake town as a hobby. His first contribu-
which brought cogecher the township's ranchers, scockmen, miners and oil workers,
tion was the building of the Southern Hotel. It was planned co be the finest between
where he ac lease once collected a knife in his back - the work of a lady who felt slighted.
Los Angeles and San Jose. During its decade, it was the center of the social, religious and .
economic life of the community. It opened in February under the management of D. W. Mr. and Mrs. Newhall, driving behind a matched team of faun colored Spanish mules,
Fields. The hotel had a reading room, parlour, general score, large dining room - also frequently rode co and from their ranch, in and around the cown, investigating progress
used for Saturday night dances - and an unbroken view of the beautiful oak covered and planning new things chat would make the town a pleasanter, better place to live.

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