On October 16, 1853, Sarah Beckwith Gifford was born in England. She would one day become one of the Santa Clarita Valley’s most respected pioneer women and a cornerstone of early Newhall life. Her story is intertwined with that of her husband, John Timothy Gifford, who served as Newhall’s first railroad agent and telegraph operator during the establishment of the ...

On this day in 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 634, officially merging the Castaic Lake Water Agency (CLWA) and the Newhall County Water District (NCWD)  into a single entity, the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency. The bill, authored by then-Senator Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita), unified decades of overlapping service areas and long-standing disputes between the two water agencies, ...

A fire that destroyed a popular mountain resort and burned more than 1,500 acres along the historic Ridge Route made headlines on Oct. 14, 1932, marking the end of the National Forest Inn. A fire reportedly started in the resort’s garage and destroyed the National Forest Inn, located along the historic Ridge Route. The blaze was rumored to have started ...

On October 13, 1876, the town of Newhall was officially founded at what is now known as Bouquet Junction, marking a key milestone in Santa Clarita Valley history.  Just two years later, the entire town, including its buildings and residents, moved about two miles south to its current location at Railroad Avenue and 8th Street. At the heart of the ...

On October 12, 1915, the United States government officially renamed the Surrey post office and, by extension, the small community around it, Saugus. The story of Saugus goes back nearly three decades earlier. When the Southern Pacific Railroad built its station at this location in 1888, there were little more than a few outbuildings. The depot was named Saugus in ...

On this day in 1985, Tex Williams, best known as an American Western swing singer and bandleader, died at age 68 of cancer. Sollie Paul “Tex” Williams was born August 23, 1917, in Ramsey, Illinois, to Thomas “Bud” Williams and Tillie Williams, as the youngest of 11 children. Tex learned folk and traditional music from his father and his older ...

On October 10, 2018, the city officially dedicated its newly acquired San Francisquito Open Space. During the ceremony, Charles F. “Chuck” Cullen Jr. pointed out the remnants of a yellow ribbon that his stepmother, Lady Linda, tied around an old oak tree 45 years earlier when she married his father. That tree still stands along Lady Linda Lane, near the ...

On October 9, 1866, George Blum, founder of the historic Blum Ranch in Acton, was born in Beggingen, Switzerland. Blum first immigrated to America in 1880, then returned to Switzerland a few years later. In 1887, he came back to the United States, this time leading a group of Swiss travelers that included his future wife, Magdalena Greutman. The couple ...

On this day in 1858, the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach, carrying letters, freight, and one determined reporter, rolled through the rugged canyons of the Santa Clarita Valley on its inaugural journey from St. Louis to San Francisco. The historic run marked the first organized mail and passenger service to traverse the San Fernando and San Francisquito passes. Early travelers called ...

On this day in Santa Clarita history, October 7, 1849, the Jayhawker Party crossed paths with another wagon train making its way toward California during the Gold Rush, setting the stage for a desperate journey through the desert that would eventually bring survivors to the Santa Clara River Valley. The story begins during the California Gold Rush, after James W. ...