We are all so fortunate to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. Yes, that is exactly what I think. So much has happened here since the first humans wandered into this valley maybe 10,000 years ago or so.

Later, much later, a group of people called the Tataviam came to our valley. The Tataviam, or “people facing the sun,” lived here for more than 1,000 years in near peace and harmony with the area and, for the most part, other folks around them.

The Spanish showed up in 1769 on their way to Monterey Bay. They missed that bay and found San Francisco Bay. Of course, with the Spanish came the good folks of the church to establish missions. In fact, it was thought at the time there should be a mission here in this valley. Guess what? San Fernando got the mission, since getting over the hills was a little too difficult.

The Tataviam were taken to the mission and later the mission was taken over by the Mexican government, which didn’t do that much with it until the Yankee folks from the United States started showing up.

So far, this is some pretty antiquated history. So what got me so interested? Well, trains and planes, oil wells and mines, ranches and riding a horse or two.

As a young student in the fourth or fifth grade, some friends and I got to storm the castle at William S. Hart Park. We tramped the hills in days long before trails were established. Maybe a few arrowheads were found as we explored the canyons and the dry washes of our valley.

There were the movies being filmed all over. I rode a horse into the middle of the “Rawhide” set. But most of all, I had moved to Pico Canyon. We didn’t know it was called “Mentryville.” We did know it was a wonderful piece of history.

Little facts of our valley impress me. For instance: The old Pioneer Oil Refinery on Pine Street just happens to be the oldest existing oil refinery in the whole world. It was supplied with oil from a well in Pico Canyon called CSO No. 4. That well was the longest actively pumping well in the world.

This happy bunch is showing off the lode of gold-bearing quartz inside Acton’s Red Rover Mine in 1890. There’s more out there.

Up in Acton at the northeastern corner of the SCV is a mine that was the richest gold mine in Los Angeles County. It was called the Governor Mine. Red Rover Mine wasn’t too far away, either. You want history? Shake a few shovelfuls of sand from the Santa Clara River bottom and look for some gold flakes. Guess what? That is most likely the real thing.

As much as we hate to see high-speed rail come through here, we welcomed the train tracks in 1876. At a place just north of Sand Canyon Road there was a station along the tracks called Lang Station. It was at that point the tracks from the north and south joined in a ceremony that included a golden spike. That came about following the completion of the train tunnel between the SCV and that lesser valley to the south. The tunnel is still in use today. It was one of the longest tunnels in the world for a couple of months after it was completed.

There was a bandido who, along with his gang, robbed individuals and whole towns. Tiburcio Vasquez plied his trade between 1854 and 1874. Eventually captured, he was taken to Monterey for trial. He was given a fair trial and then was hanged.

We had an airport that was the place commercial airliners were to land, should the big airport for Los Angeles be fogged in. Yes, it gets pretty foggy in Burbank when it is quite clear here. LAX didn’t exist at the time.

Buried treasure and hidden artifacts – we’ve had them all. Haunted houses and other buildings from times long past, too.

How about the 20th Century’s largest civil engineering disaster in the whole United States? Just up San Francisquito Canyon there was a dam that failed in 1928. A wall of water nearly 200 feet high rushed down that canyon and spread out in our valley. About 450 folks died that night, many right in their beds.

You can still see some of the scars on the canyon walls from that night. Piles of concrete sit on the site today. There isn’t a monument yet. Folks are working in that direction. Those who died deserve a memorial.

Help is needed from a new generation to find and preserve the history in this wonderful valley. Are you up to the task? You might have to hike the canyons or maybe just sit and scan old photographs so that thousands can look on a computer and see what only a few could see before.

This is exciting. I’ve asked young students when I give tours at Heritage Junction one question that gets a whole range of answers. I ask if they could live in an old house like the ones they are touring. Nearly all say they would love it.

Come love our history, too. Oh, and don’t forget to ring the bell on our old locomotive. It seems to keep the ghosts happy.

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, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived atDManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].