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 Southern Pacific line through the Santa Clarita Valley.

Sarah married John in 1875, reportedly in San Diego, before the couple moved north to settle near the construction site of the Southern Pacific Railroad’s San Fernando Tunnel.

John had been placed in charge of the north-side crew that helped dig the 6,940-foot tunnel through Railroad Canyon.

When the two crews met in the middle on July 15, 1876, John sent out the famous telegraph message announcing, “Daylight shines through the San Fernando Tunnel.”

The Giffords were among the first families to settle in Newhall following the completion of the railroad.

Their early home was a boxcar stationed near the first Newhall Depot, which opened for business in September 1876 at the present-day intersection of Bouquet Canyon Road and Magic Mountain Parkway.

In 1878, when the original townsite was relocated to what is now downtown Newhall, John and Sarah purchased two lots near the new depot and, in 1884, moved into a newly constructed board-and-batten home at the north end of Pine Street.

Sarah and John raised two children, Mabel and Edwin, although their son Edwin tragically died of scarlet fever at the age of six.

Despite this heartbreak, Sarah remained active and dedicated to the growing community.

Her husband continued to serve as both the local telegraph operator and the Wells Fargo telegrapher until his retirement in 1912.

After John’s death in 1922, Sarah continued to make her mark on Newhall life.

In December 1944, at age 91, she was chosen to christen the S.S. Newhall Hills, a Navy oil tanker named in tribute to the community she helped shape.

She passed away just three months later, on March 6, 1945.

Sarah, John, and their daughter Mabel are buried together in the Garden of Pioneers at Eternal Valley Cemetery, a fitting resting place overlooking the land where they built both their home and their legacy.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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