We’ve an entire passel of adventures ahead in one of the most historically significant spots in America — the Santa Clarita Valley right under our very boots.  Shall we get to riding?  WAY, WAY BACK WHEN   IGGY STARDUST — Ignacio del Valle was the second-to-last truly giant landow ner here in the SCV. He pretty much owned the whole shooting match. (Can you imagine owning the entire valley?) Iggy didn’t have what you call a great day on March 30, 1880. He died.  NARY A STAMP LICKED — The township of Castaic was founded on July 1, 1915. They had to wait almost two years to get the post office. It was founded on April 3, 1917, and was kept in Sam Parson’s general store. Actually, Castaic had a post office earlier. It had been closed for 17 years. Reason? No one was sending any mail to Castaic. And no one was getting any.   NO. 1 CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES? DRILLING? — On April 4, 1893, a major earthquake centered in Pico Canyon shook the valley. Distraught neighbors from Newhall formed a concerned citizens committee and marched to Pico Canyon. They complained to Mentryville management that all their oil drilling in the canyon had caused the quake.  WE MISSED OUT ON SEVERAL LAKES — In 1917, a bond measure passed, creating about a half-dozen “check dams” to stem flooding. The dams created several large ponds. According to reports, up until the 1930s, these dams helped keep a variety of creeks running year-round. State officials planned to create hundreds more in the SCV to keep the Santa Clara River running bank to bank year-round and help agriculture. By the time California got around to giving the project a green light, the Depression hit and, like many other big projects of the 1920s, they never got built.  APRIL 5, 1925  GENUINE SPANISH — “Cowboy” Bob Anderson and his wife didn’t have much patience for the restaurant business. A few months after the grand opening of their Spanish Kitchen eatery in Newhall, they leased it over to Louise King and L.I. Kaylor. The name was changed to Louisita’s Genuine Spanish Tavern.   EVEN THE CATTLE NEEDED CHAPSTICK — The drought was lightened by literally an inch. Up until March 29, only 2.75 inches of rain fell that season. A storm dumped an inch of rain (and a little snow up Bouquet and Mint canyons) bringing us up to 3.76 inches. That’s brutal in ranch and farming country.  RADIO GA-GA — For you tech buffs, here’s some trivia. The Pacific coast AM bands were reconfigured. LA’s two main radio stations, KFI and KNX, were assigned 405.2 and 336.9, respectively. Try dialing those numbers on your radio today …  APRIL 5, 1935  FINALLY! SOME AGUA!! — The year 1935 meant a lot to local ranchers and farmers. We ended a 17-year dry spell. To date, we had 19 inches of rain, the most since 1918.  WHO KNEW IT WOULD TURN TO CONDOS — They held the Baker Ranch (today, Saugus Speedway) Rodeo at the Rose Bowl and over 18,000 folks showed up each day. Newhall cowboys fared well in the event. Pat Woods took first in bull riding and a second in bronc locomotion. Andy Jauregui took a third in steer roping. “Cowboy” Bob Anderson, by the way, produced the event.  APRIL 5, 1945  CLIFF THE HORSE STARVER — Clifford Oesch was found guilty of starving six horses on his Bouquet Canyon ranch. He was given a suspended sentence if he moved the horses out of the valley and provided proof they were being cared for. Same day, the Board of Supervisors OK’d a measure to sell horse meat in regular grocery stores, as long as the packages were clearly marked. Two of the supervisors, Bill Smith and John Ford, reported they had both eaten horse meat on occasion and found it rather tasty. It should be pointed out neither one represented the SCV. In fact, the one supe who did cover Santa Clarita — Raymond Darby — was the only supervisor who voted against the measure.  APRIL 5, 1955  DAREDEVIL IN NEWHALL — On this date, Art Baker filmed “You Asked for It” at the old Junior Posse Corral at Apple and Cherry Streets. They strung up a high wire where local daredevilette, Ethel D’Arch, ex-circus performer, made a death-defying slide.  BASEBALL IS A CAN-DO SPORT — It started with old-fashioned muscle and an American can-do attitude. On this date, several locals rolled up their sleeves and took an old field near the Santa Clara River and turned it into a youth baseball diamond. They formed a board of directors and created what would become William S. Hart Boys Baseball.  APRIL 5, 1965  BETTER BE SHINY, BETTER BE DULL — Retired Newhall shoe cobbler Lester B. Dull got married on this date to Rosa Doke. Other than the fact their ceremony was the Dull-Doke affair, the interesting part of this social note was Lester was 89 years old. He was kidded for years for polishing shoes with a last name of “Dull.”  YUP! SNOWING HERE IN APRIL!! — Hard to believe, but a storm rolled through, dropping the snow level down to 2,000 feet — in the first week of April. Residents in many of the canyons were snowbound for a day. At the higher elevations, snow piled up 15 feet in spots. We had a week of subfreezing lows and a storm that dumped 7 inches of rain on the valley.  APRIL 5, 1975  THE SANTA CLARA RIVER: A PLACE TO SUBMERGE OUR SUBMARINES — It was made official: the Santa Clara River was deemed navigable — for ships — on this date by both the Environmental Protection Agency and Webster’s Dictionary. Under Webster’s definition, the SCR matched the definition of a body of water “wide or deep enough or free enough from obstructions to be traveled on by ships.” Despite the blessings of both august bodies, I don’t recall too many aircraft carriers floating off of Fillmore.  APRIL 5, 1985  YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING BETTER IN GLASS — One of the biggest, and oldest, companies in the SCV went on the auction block. For years, Thatcher Glass was the valley’s largest employer. They had been in the valley for 31 years and ended it all with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Most of the 700 workers were laid off. Reason for the financial woes? Plastic. As one executive lamented: “No one’s buying glass anymore.” Indeed. There were only a few people who showed for the auction of the 72-acre property and the million-plus square feet of buildings.  ROTARY ITALIAN NO MORE — Three Joes were relieved that the Mafia jokes were about to end. Rotary’s last three presidents were Joe Morelli, Joe Caruso and Joe Baldeschi. Forty years back, Rotary elected Ted O’Donnell to lead the club. Bonus: the election was held on St. Patrick’s Day.  FROM BOYLE HEIGHTS TO PLACERITA — Los Angeles Baptist College changed its name to The Master’s College. There were two major reasons for the change: to honor the master teacher, Jesus, and to shake the affiliation that LABC was in the city of Los Angeles. Actually, it did start in Boyle Heights as a seminary school in 1927.  On April 22, 1961, the General Association of Regular Baptists of Los Angeles announced they had purchased a 28-acre site in Placerita Canyon to start a liberal arts and theological seminary college. Price of the prime land was $152,000.   Much of the school was carved out of the old Happy Jack Ranch, owned by the Ingersoll family and by the Jack Nelson spread. LABC would open in the fall with 100 students. Its president was Dr. John Dunkin. Dr. Dunkin is the grandfather of former Lakers player, Mike Penberthy.  After being president of LABC for 26 years, Dr. Dunkin retired on this date, too. John MacArthur Jr. took over the helm in 1985. The school is known as The Master’s University now.  • • •   Wish you saddlepals joy and abundance and then some. See you next weekend with another Time Ranger adventure, and, until then — vayan con Dios, amigos!   Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston hosts an eclectic online shop, bookstore and multimedia & commentary website at www.johnlovesamerica.com/bookstore. Also? Pick up a copy of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America — The Santa Clarita Valley” there. And you know what else? Thanks!  The post The Time Ranger | LABC Switches to The Master’s in a Blink…  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less