Capture Calif

Capture California

What is a YOLT? Well, you may have heard the term YOLO. Gary and Sherri think we can live again, not as James Bond, but as being reborn. Consequently, we are having fun in our life, after all, You Only Live Twice.

Showing posts with label Newhall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newhall. Show all posts

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Adventure 051, Site 158 - Mentryville


Capture California, the Game-2012
Adventure: 051, Site 158 - Mentryville
California Landmark Number: 516-2


Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date:  October 6, 2012
Location:
Latitude: 34° 22.772′ N
Longitude: 118° 36.638′ W
Address: 27201 West Pico Canyon Roa, newhall, ca

Description:

We traveled some for this plaque. From the Pioneer Refinery plaque in Newhall, we headed directly west for about three miles. We were coming close to where we were thinking we would turn around, when we saw the buildings of Mentryville and then the plaque (516-2). Someplace out here is a second plaque (516) talking about the well which started the California Liquid Gold rush.



NO. 516-2 MENTRYVILLE - Named after pioneer oil developer Charles Alexander Mentry, who in 1876 drilled the first successful oil well in California. His restored home and barn and Felton School remain here where the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of Standard Oil of California, was born.
Location: 27201 W Pico Canyon Rd, 2.8 mi W of I-5, Newhall

NO. 516 WELL, CSO 4 (PICO 4) - On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico No. 4), California's first commercially productive well. It was spudded in early 1876 under direction of Demetrious G. Scofield who later became the first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day. Later that year, after the well was deepened to 600 feet with what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day - it is still producing after 77 years (1953). The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California, and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby. It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California petroleum industry.
Location: On W Pico Canyon Rd, 3.3 mi W of I-5, Newhall






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Location: 27201 W Pico Canyon Rd, Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381, USA

Adventure 051, Site 157 – Oak of the Golden Dream

Capture California, the Game-2012
Adventure: 051, Site 157 – Oak of the Golden Dream
California Landmark Number: 168


Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date:  October 6, 2012
Location:
Latitude: 34° 22.696′ N
Longitude: 118° 33.83′ W
Address: I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall, CA

Description:

This plaque is sort of a double find for us and it seems to be fitting that it commemorates the first gold find in California in 1842. When we found the previous plaque on the first commercial liquid gold (oil) refinery in California, there right beside it, up from the Burger King, was the plaque telling about the first gold strike in California. There is not anything remaining of the gold strike and the plaques are located on a busy street. You have to be willing to step into traffic to read the plaques. But we did and lived.

After writing and researching this, I think that team Thing One, Thing Two found the lazy person's plaque for the Oak of the Golden Dream. After seeing some sites, we probably stopped at a California Landmark plaque for the Oak. But the real oak is 6 miles down the road. By the way, we are glad that we were mistaken. Somehow, it seemed wrong that such an oak would have been cut down to make a Burger King.



NO. 168 OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAM - Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to the roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years.
Location: Site: Placerita Canyon State and County Park, Placerita Canyon Rd, 4.6 mi NE of Newhall (Los Angeles)
Plaque: SE corner I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall



From Waymarking about the other plaque commemorating the gold find:
It is purported that Jose Francisco De Gracia Lopez fell asleep under an oak in Canon de los Encinos (Live Oak Canyon) and dreamt of gold. When he awoke, he was hungry and dug up some wild onions at the base of a nearby tree with his pocket knife. Clinging to the roots of the onions were nuggets of gold. Lopez and his associates scoured the nearby riverbanks and discovered more pockets of gold. They took their findings to nearby Los Angeles and relayed word of their discovery to their native Mexico City. The gold was assayed by the Philadelphia Mint and found to be .926 fine. Hundreds of prospectors from Los Angeles and Sonora, Mexico flocked to Live Oak Canyon, which was renamed Placerita Canyon. The word "placer" is of Spanish origin and means surface deposits of sand or gravel containing gold. From 1842 to 1847, the miners culled some 1,300 pounds of gold from Placerita. This is the first recorded authenticated find of gold in the area and that which is believed to have kicked off the monumental California Gold Rush in 1842. Additionally, Lopez’s was the first attempt at establishing a mining claim. Historians disagree on whether significant gold finds preceded that of Lopez, but his is surely the most legendary.

The oak tree beneath which Lopez took his fateful nap is now a California Historical Landmark, the Oak of the Golden Dream, and is located within the boundaries of the Placerita Canyon Park. It is the featured site of this earthcache and is a short, pleasant walk down the paved Heritage Trail.






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Location: Lyons Ave, Newhall, CA, USA

Adventure 051, Site 156 – Pioneer Oil Refinery

Capture California, the Game-2012
Adventure: 051, Site 156 – Pioneer Oil Refinery
California Landmark Number: 172


Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date:  October 6, 2012
Location:
Latitude: 4° 22.696′ N
Longitude: 118° 33.83′ W
Address: State Plaque at Lyon Boulevard Exit of I-5

Description:

We got back onto I-5 with the idea of visiting other plaques in Newhall. So after a minute on I-5, we took the Lyon Boulevard exit and there is was, right before our eyes. This plaque is only a marker for the area where the first commercial oil refinery stood.



NO. 172 PIONEER OIL REFINERY - In 1875 the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of the Standard Oil Company of California, drilled its first Pico Canyon well, which yielded about one hundred barrels per day. The discovery resulted in the erection of the first commercial oil refinery in California the following year.
Location: Site and private plaque at 238 Pine St, Newhall - state plaque at Lang Blvd exit of I-5



According to HMDB: The site of the refinery does not have an actual marker that can be seen. The location is fenced off and access is not allowed but you can get a decent view looking through the fence. The site is located at 238 Pine Street, Newhall, California. This is the oldest still standing oil refinery in the Western Hemisphere (perhaps World)






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Location: Newhall, Santa Clarita, CA, USA

Adventure 051, Site 155 – Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop


Capture California, the Game-2012
Adventure: 051, Site 155 – Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop
California Landmark Number: 688


Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date:  October 6, 2012
Location:
Latitude: N 34° 21.730
Longitude: W 118° 30.441
Address: 23287 North Sierra Highway, Newhall, CA

Description:

We credit the LA freeways for this find. We had gotten on I-5 from 210, we started to settle in. Then Thing One says, Ohh, Oh, I think we are on the wrong freeway—Highway 14 had taken off on us and we were approaching Newhall. Thing Two said that there was more landmarks in Newhall. One was right by us, the Lyon's Station. So off we went down the Sierra Highway and then we came up to a memorial park. This was it and right there at the entrance was the plaque. The building behind the plaque is a modern chapel. Thing Two spies an ancient hearse and has to take picture of this one as well—it was the last horse drawn hearse in Los Angeles county.



NO. 688 LYONS STATION STAGECOACH STOP - This site was the location of a combination store, post office, telegraph office, tavern, and stage depot accommodating travelers during the Kern River gold rush in the early 1850s. A regular stop for Butterfield and other early California stage lines, it was purchased by Sanford and Cyrus Lyons in 1855, and by 1868 at least twenty families lived here. Eternal Valley Memorial Park has called their final resting place "The Garden of the Pioneers."
Location: Eternal Valley Memorial Park, 23287 N Sierra Hwy, near State Hwy 14 and San Fernando Rd, Newhall



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Location: 23287 Sierra Hwy, Newhall, CA 91321, USA
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