Welp. We’ve saddled up several thousand fine steeds, even a few with English saddles for those of you who are, ahem — Westernly Challenged.  I suppose it would be easier for us to have one truly huge giant horse and just share one big saddle.  As the famed Riders of the Sky band are oft wont to say:  “That’d be the easy way. But it wouldn’t be the cowboy way.”  History, humor, gee-whiz facts and good companionship are up yonder. Rein your pony toward the time portal and leave your woes in the illusion of 2026 …  WAY, WAY BACK WHEN   TAYLOR THE SOULESS VENDING MACHINES — In 1919, Taylor Simpson started a 48-year-career working for Southern Pacific Railroad. The Val Verde resident held the bygone career of being a waiter in the dining cars. Simpson kept working into the late 1960s on a part-time basis. As luxury passenger rails became an endangered species, Simpson’s job was no longer in demand. Taylor recalled serving dinner to such celebrities as Eleanor Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst. He noted both liked steaks. Simpson sadly noted how the soulless vending machines took the place of the fresh hot meal. One other memory of the elegant gentleman was making the Kansas to L.A. run on “The Imperial.” He noted several near misses in Tornado Alley. “It was the most terrible sight to see that black funnel racing along besides the train.” On the other end of the weather spectrum, Simpson and his entire train was stranded for three days in a midwestern blizzard. He also fondly recalled, in retrospect, making a luxury trek into Mexico. Because the trains carried the well-to-do, Mexican federales rode along to fight off armed bandits who would sometimes try to hijack the luxury freighter.   OUR FORGOTTEN METROPOLIS OF SOLEDAD CITY — The Soledad Post Office was established in Ravenna, a now-defunct community that used to rest between Acton and Agua Dulce. That’d be back on June 12, 1868. The federal government refused to deliver mail to Soledad City, a thriving mining community of 1,000-plus souls. With another Soledad up in Northern Cali, there was much confusion as to which letter went where. So, postal authorities visited our Soledad and consulted with a rather filthy specimen of a fella named Jim O’Reilly (who was literally famous for his poo-stinky/body odor self and ran a grocery store). O’Reilly suggested they rename, for postal reasons, Soledad City to Ravenna, after his pal, stage driver Manuel Ravenna, a teamster and businessman who originally called Genoa, Italy, his home.  HE’D BE 175 TODAY IF HE JUST WOULD’VE EATEN HIS VEGGIES — Henry Clay Needham was born on June 8, 1851, back in Kentucky. He was this valley’s only serious presidential candidate, running in 1920 as the Prohibitionist Party’s favorite son. Got stricken with food poisoning the morning of the convention and couldn’t accept his own party’s nomination. You folks who live on Arcadia or Kansas can thank Hank for the street names. His hometown was Arcadia, Kansas.  APTLY NAMED — June 9, 1842, Rancho Temescal was deeded to Francisco Lopez, that chap who discovered gold entwined in an onion’s route in Placerita Canyon. “Temescal” originally comes from the Nahuatl (Aztecan) word, “temāzcalli.” It means, “house of heat.” And yes. This will be on the final. I hear groaning from the middle of the posse and you better knock it off …  JUNE 13, 1926  AS THE ROLLING STONES USED TO CROON, ‘IT’S A GAS-GAS-GAS …’ — Talk about oil independence — we had it here in the Santa Clarita Valley 100 years ago. The Midway Gas Co. opened a spigot to send thousands of gallons of petroleum (pumped out of the ground here) flowing to our brand new gas refinery. The oil washed over two giant scrubbers and other processing, then was stored in big holding tanks just outside of downtown Newhall. The close proximity of something that volatile bothered many locals and a few years later, the whole Newhall Refinery would be moved up Beale’s Cut. In 1926, the plant produced about 5,000 gallons — not barrels — a day. That wouldn’t fill up too many Hummers but it more than met local needs when the valley had but 500 souls.  CHICKENS: BE THY SELVES — I’m not the best 4H kid on the block. But, to this day, I don’t know what a “Poultry Demonstration” is. They hosted one here in Happy Valley.  STOP THE PRESSES!! — We are so surrounded by technology today in 2026 that it’s like the age-old question: “Is the fish in the ocean or the ocean in the fish?” Back in 1926, it wasn’t the case. One of The Signal’s front-page stories was simply about how a Newhall family had a radio installed in their home. A radio. We noted it was a pretty darn big one, too.  OUR EDITORIAL POSITION? SHOOT FIRST, QUESTION LATER — A modern crime wave swept over the valley. Rustlers were using “modern trucks” instead of old-fashioned horses to hijack prize cattle from local farms. The Signal recommended: “Neighbors get out your shotguns again.” Imagine us urging that today …  JUNE 13, 1936  WHERE’S THE BEEF? — In a time-honored tradition, The Newhall Land Farming Co. donated a few steers for the annual Fourth of July barbecue. Hmmm. I’m not sure if there’s a non-roping-practice steer left within the confines of the valley today …  JUNE 13, 1946  THE FINAL BREATHS OF TWO-GUN BILL — As our silent screen icon, William S. Hart, lay on his death bed, many chess pieces were marshaled for his vast estate. Hart’s old friend, Francis Gudger, was named by the movie star as his legal guardian. On the other end of the board, Bill Hart Jr., cut off from his father’s will, along with his mother, Winnifred Westover, filed an opposing petition in Superior Court, contesting Hart Sr.’s appointment. The actor had indicated he was going to leave the bulk of his estate to the public, which would later be turned over to Los Angeles County for an in-perpetuity park. The city of Santa Clarita runs it now.  KA-BLOOSKI TO THE Nth — Folks up in Castaic were rolled up into balls and covering their heads and heinies. On this date, a double rig carrying BOTH nitroglycerin and dynamite smashed into another truck. Despite two fatalities and a fiery explosion, the cargo didn’t blow.  BEEF IN THE 1930s — And, cash and land in the 1940s. Newhall Land donated an additional five more acres to the 10 they deeded to build Newhall Park. Along with some cash, that extra 5 acres is today’s softball diamond.  NO BULL — “Big” Bill Bonelli, one of the most colorful, richest and controversial SCV citizens of the 20th century, added another gee-whiz page to his life’s story. The mega-rancher (who owned well over 1 million acres from here to Mexico) paid $30,000 on this date for a Hereford bill. That was a world’s record then. The bull went by the handle of Trunode Domino 64th, although I’m sure he wouldn’t come no matter what you called him. Bonelli’s home used to be next to the Saugus Speedway. Today? It’s yet another city rubber-stamped, look-alike shopping center/condo project.  GUESS YOU BOYS PICKED THE WRONG GUY — Clarence Stevens and Dale Smith of Castaic were reported to be pretty liquored up when they picked what they thought was a soft mark. The pair picked a fight with Ridge Route Garage owner Paul Norman in a nearby restaurant. I should point out that Paul was on crutches with a broken leg. He sent the pair to the hospital. Bless my rascally heart, I LOVE stories like that …  CRUTCHES SMALL TOWNS — It probably hurts a lot less 80 years later. But to indicate what a small town we were, one of The Mighty Signal’s stories on this date was that Mrs. Charlie Good’s wife stepped on a corn cob and broke her leg.  JUNE 13, 1956  PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE BUT DON’T SMOKE IT — Most folks don’t realize this, but there’s almost more pipe under the SCV than dirt. On this date, the SoCal Gas Co. started work on a giant natural gas pipeline that ran all the way from Topock on the Colorado River through Newhall and into Los Angeles. The pipe was 30 inches in diameter and delivered nearly 350 million cubic feet per day.  THE NEW AMERICANS — Mr. and Mrs. Leo Molitor bought The American Theater on this date from the Henry Ostrom family. The Molitors hailed from Minnesota, where they ran a moving picture house in St. Paul.  THE 78ers OF 56ers — Back in 1956, there was but one high school. Cripes. Don’t go literal/class clown wise guy on me — one high school in the SCV, NOT the world. The graduating class for the entire SCV consisted of 78 seniors.   JUNE 13, 1966  JUST FOR YUCKS, er, um, YUCCS — The corn may be tall in Kansas, but here in the SCV we’ve got the big yuccas. According to Sunset Magazine, the world’s record for a yucca was 17 feet. A Saugus plant in the backyard of the Wachter family in Sand Canyon topped that by 4 inches.  A TERRIBLE WAY TO GO — Again, one of our major historical themes for the SCV is the difference between agrarian and suburban life. Several goats were burned alive in a farming truck accident here.  JUNE 13, 1976  A TERRIBLE AND MOST STUPID WAY TO GO — A Los Angeles man was trying to hot-wire an abandoned car along the side of busy Interstate 5 right in front of two California Highway Patrol officers. After they ran a check and learned that the car was not his, the 23-year-old confessed he was trying to steal it. When the officers asked him to step away from under the hood, he attacked one of the CHP men and grabbed his revolver. In the struggle, the man shot the officer in the leg. The officer wrestled the gun back and in the melee, he and his partner shot the man dead in front of his wife and 5-year-old, who were sitting in the abandoned car.  DRUNK DRIVING, TIMES 20 — It was a wild West week for the CHP. Just a few days later, officers went on a high-speed off-road chase of a Volkswagen van. The driver, Bill Ramsey, had failed to stop on the freeway, took off road at Castaic and went up into the hills. Pretending to pull over, the van’s driver then tried to run over a CHP officer who had stepped out of his vehicle. The officer fired at the driver, hitting him in the shoulder. The VW went over an embankment and burst into flames. As the two CHP officers were pulling the wounded driver out, they noticed the flames from the van’s overheated catalytic converter had touched off a small brush fire, which caught THEIR patrol car on fire. It, too, burst into flames. Why was the driver so intent on evading capture? He had more than 20 arrests for drunk driving and driving without a license.  THE DEMISE OF BALONEY — Must have been some odd aligning of the stars 50 years ago this week. Also shot on this date was Baloney, the world’s most famous Brahma bull. The Val Verde beef belonged to Bob Scott and the 11-year-old bull was shot by some idiot while in his corral on Chiquita Canyon Road. Baloney is probably most famous for being ridden by Alex Karras in the comedy classic, “Blazing Saddles.”  A RARE MID-JUNE MONSOON — Hard to believe, but on this date, it rained — real darn hard. The June 11 surprise provided thunderstorms and flash-flooding, along with hail in some areas.  JUNE 13, 1986  ONE OF THE LAST OF THE OLD-TIME COWBOYS — William S. Hart may be our most famous local Western icon, but Andy Jauregui is our most famous bona fide cowboy. He was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1969, enshrined as one of our first members of the Walk of Western Stars in 1983 and received the Bob Paxton McCullock trophy in 1973 for 50 years of outstanding contributions to America’s rodeo.   On this date in 1986, he was inducted into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame (the award was presented by his lifelong friend, Harry Carey Jr., who called Andy: “My hero, my lifelong hero.). Dear Andy was a larger-than-life fellow. There are countless stories about the lanky Basque wrangler.  Someday, when we take a really long trail ride, I’ll share them but for now, one of my favorites was when he gave lariat lessons to Clark Gable. Word spread like wildfire that Hollywood’s most handsome actor was at Andy’s Placerita ranch. Sitting on the rail was his sweetheart, Carole Lombard. Within about an hour, hundreds of locals found some excuse — returning a tool, bringing over cookies — to “drop over” and see Andy. Poor Clark and Carole. Not a moment’s peace, even in Newhall …   DANDY DODGER DONNY — Last week, I mentioned that Saugus High made it to the CIF Finals at Dodger Stadium only to lose in an error-plagued game. I should point out that Centurion Donny Pederson hit a home run — I’ve got to take a running start to type this — OVER the 395-foot sign in right field for a dinger.  O ALL YOU TEENS, PLEASE, PLEASE LISTEN WELL — I surely wish there was some magic wand we could wave, especially around this time of year, that would protect our children. On this date, Michelle Strickland and Karen Heillman spoke before 2,200 students at Canyon High about safe and sober driving. Both had lost children, six months apart, in alcohol-related traffic accidents.  THE MINERS ARE NO LONGER MINORS — Happy birthday to Placerita. The valley’s first junior high turns 65.   • • •  Little bit of business before we stable up the horses? I’ll be speaking at Rancho Camulos Sunday, June 28, noon. There’s a $10 donation. Topic? Monsters, Ghosts, Ghouls, the Macabre  Supernatural. Check out www.ranchocamulos.org/upcoming-events-1 for more info. Hope to see all y’all out there …  You dear people take care of yourselves. Pick a poem, psalm or cliché on loving one another. Learn it. Live it. Memorize it. Laugh a bunch, too, please. See you next Saturday back here at The Signal hitching post with a brand new Time Ranger adventure, and, until then — ¡vayan con Dios, amigos!   Local historian and the world’s most prolific satirist/humorist John Boston has launched his new eclectic bookstore — johnboston-books.com. His hilarious adventure/family/supernatural sequel to the national bestseller, “Naked Came the Sasquatch” — “Naked Came the Novelist” — is on sale now. Ditto with his two-volume “Monsters” series about the supernatural in the SCV.   The post The Time Ranger | Temescal. Or, How to Say, ‘Hotter’n Heck’ in Aztec appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less