I must have been 10 or 11 at the time. The first time it was a bright but still cool spring morning as I left Pico Cottage after chores and set out to hike up Minnie-Lotta Canyon to the big rock and down to the Wickhams’ home at the head of the canyon of the same name.

I loved going to their home. Mr. Wickham had these neat mechanical displays of circus scenes and all kinds of other things. Mr. Wickham would wind them or switch on the motors, and I’d stand there mesmerized by the old-fashioned mechanical marvels.

Their home was a marvel, too. Built on a couple of levels, they had a screened dining room that you’d reach by walking over a short bridge from the kitchen. It was on the second floor and up in the trees. I know this because every time I went there, Mrs. Wickham would make tuna salad sandwiches, and we also had some sweet ice tea.

Mr. Wickham was a rock hound and had a great collection of crystals and agates. His rock room was in the lower lever of the house, which had adobe walls. I do remember that no matter how hot the day, it was always cool in that room.

Wickham Canyon today. Photo by Stan Walker. The meeting about the proposed development of Wickham Canyon will be held Thursday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. at Pico Canyon Elementary School.

After lunch I would take the road down the canyon and stop to see our close neighbors on my way back to Pico Cottage. I loved to stop and see them, since they had a honey business. If Mr. Larinan was spinning honey combs to extract the honey, I usually got a small piece of comb to chew on the way home.

One day I was ready to set out to hike that circuit again when my mother had to tell me Mr. Wickham had been accidentally bitten by his little dog, and the bite was infected. Soon I heard he had died.

Then there was the fire. The house and mechanical marvels all burned. That 1962 fire was a terrible one. I stopped hiking over the ridge through Minnie-Lotta Canyon.

Never made that trip on horseback. It was just a little too steep.

So I read yesterday that there are plans to build 102 homes west of Southern Oaks from Pico Canyon Road up Wickham Canyon. I doubt Los Angeles County will disapprove of the development.

This is land that has a rich history. It would have been great if the city of Santa Clarita could have purchased Wickham Canyon. Maybe another area can be purchased for some open space.

The existing Southern Oaks subdivision is at right. The proposed Wickham Canyon development is at left.

Did you know Santa Clarita is the only city that’s known to be continually buying land outside of its borders for preservation as permanent open space? I get just a little angry when folks blame the city about growth. This new development in Wickham Canyon, as with other parts of the west side of the valley, is under the control of Los Angeles County.

I know that someday homes may be built close to the gates of Mentryville. This is not bad, since folks do need a place to live. I just hope folks remember what was once there. Or, better stated, what wasn’t there.

Driving up the canyon the other day, I passed over the creek where the old oak tree used to sit. To my left was Wickham Canyon. The memories of the happy spring days came back and I smiled just a little, thinking of the long hikes and honey and those wonderful lunches I always got at the Wickhams.

One of these days, before the dirt is too disturbed, I’m going to have to take a hike up Wickham Canyon and see what is left. I would think foundations and maybe even some of the adobe walls. I’d like to think old Mr. Wickham and his wife are still there. I’m sure they would still graciously host a fine tuna fish lunch with iced tea.

Maybe that is a vision of Heaven. A quiet and tranquil place in a canyon in the West.

I used to hike to a place like that. Every chance I got.

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Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed by clicking on his byline above. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].