 The Romance of the Ranchos Newhall 1842 First gold discovered in California Newhall 1876 Railroad gives Los Angeles first link with East Newhall 1924 Old Rancho finally passes from hands of illustrious California family The title insurance and trust company of Los Angeles presents the romance of the Ranchos A program dramatizing the wealth of exciting and fascinating incidents that color the history of Southern California Each week our wandering Veccharo Frank Graham unfolds another authentic story of the days of the dawns The title insurance and trust company of Los Angeles wishes to thank the many officials and teachers of the city and county schools Who have expressed so much interest in this series of programs Every precaution is taken to ensure the historical accuracy of these dramatizations When you hear the thrilling story of your own community reenacted here You may be sure that the historical facts given are correct Even though the adventure and romance portrayed may seem stranger and more exciting than fiction We are fortunate indeed to live in a land with such a colorful background And one that at the same time presents so many advantages and opportunities for present-day living And here to tell us the story is our wandering Veccharo Frank Graham Buenos noches señoras y señores Tonight our story deals with an interesting section of the Southland adjoining San Fernando The region of Newhall and Saugus and the upper Santa Clara Valley Not the least interesting part of this story is the fact that only recently has part of this land passed from the Del Valle family to whom it was originally granted This is a tale rich in the romance of the Ranchos In 1839, Don Antonio, the founder of the Del Valle family in California, received 48,611 acres from the governor And thus began the great Rancho San Francisco But Don Antonio died in 1841, leaving his great estate to his widow and children Who later turned their interests over to the eldest son, Don Inacio Del Valle, lieutenant of the Mexican army It was about the year 1842 that Don Inacio brought his bride, the beautiful Isabel Varela, to live in his new Rancho home Inacio, it is beautiful, so beautiful Do you like it, Isabel? See, how could I help with such a fine Asienda? Ah, see, the carrels and vineyards And look out there, across the valley, such fine pastureland By before long, Camulos will be one of the greatest cattle Ranchos in all California Camulos? See, that is the name by which this part of the Rancho San Francisco is known What does it mean? It is Indian, for juniper tree or shelter Shelter? See, it is our shelter, isn't it, Not Inacio? Oh, see, and it always will be But wait, you have not seen it all There is more? See, right this way To the little room of the house But what more could we ask than all of these? No, you shall see There, you see? Inacio, oh Inacio, it is a little chapel See, I built it especially for you Look, a small altar, everything, oh, it is so beautiful Here you may lead us all in prayer, each sundown See, in prayers of thanksgiving that such a wonderful home should be ours For here is everything we could wish It is indeed our shelter Inacio, my husband, let us kneel down And thank God for this home, our Rancho Camulos May it be a haven for us always And for our children, and our children's children, forever The life of Rancho San Francisco In the section of it called Camulos Was a pastoral idol, serene and filled with sunshine A first warning of the great events to come Took place one day when a cattleman By the name of Francisco Lopez Hiding through the canyons with a companion Francisco, perhaps they're up this canyon, huh? I am sick of looking for stray horses Let us rest there while they're at it Oh, but Francisco, they are valuable animals We must find them The way I feel now, I don't care if I never find them again Let them run up one canyon and down another Let them hide behind the rocks and stand in these shades So we cannot see them, I do not care I am sick of being led all over these hills By a roguish pair of horses Is this why I spent years at this school of mines In the city of Mexico? Is this why I spent weeks and months of study To be playing Niniera to a herd of four-footed vagabonds? And a fine nurse made you hot, too Niniera to a bunch of horses That is really... Here I stop I am hot and I am sticky and I am tired Those decrepit antecedents of Rosinante May kick up their heels all they like I am going to turn mine up in the shade of that tree Before I need to rest Very well, mi amigo We shall take siesta in this shade But only for a while Soon we must be on our way after the fort But right now I want to just lie here Let the horses graze and come on At last I may rest my creaking joints Ah You had better pick your spot more carefully, mi amigo The cactus leaf does not make you best of resting places You wild onion patch over there Me much softer, I assure you I did not have to go to the university to learn that Why am I plagued with such a loco? Wild onions, eh? That reminds me I must bring home some greens for Maria But tonight we have to share our meal with guests Oh well, I may as well get them now Let me your hunting knife one But do not dull it Be sure you use it on the onions Not on any cactus Ah, be quieter I shall use it on you, you loco These are not as tough in the eating as in the cutting Dig them out by the roots I did not have to go to the university to learn about that either Before I lose my temper I know how to dig wild onions I need your advice Ah, there it is And a huge one at least, too Look at it, a meal in itself See, if you care for such a meal As for me, give me a great big tasty one Look at this Clinging to the roots A sparkling pebble See, so it is How it shines in the sun Oh, it would make a pretty trinket for my little Juanita She likes shiny pebbles I shall take it home for her You shall not take this one home to Juanita Do you realize what this is, Juan? This is nutty pebble It is gold A nugget of gold What are you talking about, Francisco? Gold, why there is no gold around here? You can tell me about horses You can tell me about digging wild onions But you can't tell me anything about gold For that I studied in the university This is gold, I know it You are sure? See, one, take the knife, dig more plants Look for more of these little pebbles Perhaps, perhaps we have found a placer A placer of gold And Francisco Lopez had found a placer of gold More than six years before Marshall's discovery At Sutter's Creek electrified the world And changed the whole course of California's destiny The yellow metal was found on Rancho San Francisco Prospectors from Los Angeles flocked to the canyons of the Santa Clara But the small quantity of water hindered any large-scale operations And it remained for Northern California To become the mecca of the gold-hungry crowds Life on Rancho San Francisco Was largely untouched by the turn of affairs But once again, its pastoral solitude was broken By an incident which formed a part of great events to come It was one day in March of 1850 That Doninasio was startled with the news Doninasio, Doninasio, come quick! See, see, Juan, what is he? In the past year, I'm by the oil The dead have risen from the grave What? Juan, what are you talking about? I saw it with my own eyes Men and women come back from the dead Their cheeks hollow, their eyes sunk Like walking skeletons Juan, what is this? The dead have risen To murder us as they are killing our cattle right now What? Killing our cattle? See, at eating the meat raw Then they are not ghosts, but people And they cannot do that It is against the law What do the dead care for the law? Come, quickly and show me We must stop them Oh, senor, sir, I would rather stay here Come, and hurry They are starved, exhausted See, they are almost dead Senores, stand back Stand back I have a gun I'll use it But, senor, I... Don't try to stop us, mister We need food And we'll kill the cattle But, senor, of course This is my rancho, my cattle I do not intend to stop you Only, senor, won't you All of you come to my house and rest Let me give you food Cooked food Mister, I don't know who you are But you look like God to me We've been lost in the desert for weeks How many I don't know Well, you can see for yourself See, but come, let us not waste time in talk Come with me, you shall have food and water One... one... Kirk Daddy Catch the boy, he's fainted Here you are, amigos Our fattest beef, eggs, corn, tortillas, frijoles Anything you wish And water, gallons of water Mister, I don't know how we can ever thank you enough for this Don't thank me, senor I have thanks enough in seeing you eat As much as you can hold Well, you're definitely going to see that Mister, I... I don't know what's wrong With my stomach I can't stand the pain much longer And the others... See, it is the same Oh, my amigo, I am so sorry I should have known you cannot eat so much After having eaten nothing for weeks It is not good Can't... can't you do something? I have sinned for the doctor He will be here soon He... he's better hurry Or we'll all die of worse death Than the world we left behind on the desert A doctor arrived in time to save the agonized remnants Of the ill-fated party Whose terrible suffering gave Death Valley its name But they were but one of the parties The American pioneers who started one of the greatest Masked movements the world has ever known But one of the first ripples of that great wave of progress Which was to transform the whole life And character of California A few years later, as the value of most California Ranchos was declining Don Inacio found an unusual interest Centered on Rancho San Francisco Tell me, Senor Borges Why are you so interested in buying The Rancho San Francisco? Well, now Don Inacio Haven't said that I was interested in buying I just wanted to know how much you'd ask In case It is the same thing And you know it, Senor Don't try to... You say, fool me, Senor You did not even blink an eye When I said $50,000 You must want this land very badly, Senor No, no Well, that is, I might be interested in it Yes And why? That is what I want to know It could not have anything to do with your Philadelphia and California oil company, could it? Well, now I... Just as I thought You have heard the stories about oil Which seats up on my land, eh? Stories, you say? You mean they're not true? Oh, see, they are true, all right When they were first discovered I had visions of great riches too But, no, I don't know Well, my men have looked over this land And I want them to take a chance on what they say Now, as long as we have our cards on the table Done in our show, that means we're admitting I'll buy your land if you sell But, Senor, I do not want to sell I have no reason to... That is why I named such a high price I'll pay your price and more if you sell Senor, you mean you'll pay that much more No, look, I'll put all my cards on it I'm willing to pay a dollar and 25 cents an eighth That comes to about $58,000 If you take that figure I'll buy Rancho San Francisco Inacio, my husband, is that you? See, little doll, how are you? Inacio, you have sold the Rancho? See, I have sold the San Francisco But how did you know? A man was here, he said that we must get out of here Out of this house, off the land Out of here? No, Isabel, I sold Rancho San Francisco But not our home Not this part we call Camulos This is ours, and it shall remain ours Oh, Inacio, I am happy to hear you say that I did not believe that ever you would sell our shelter Our Camulos Never, little doll And I shall go to Senor Barr right away And find out what he means by this Beside me here before the altar Here is such peace and love See, Nicarita, you are burning a lamp? See, it is burning in prayer That our shelter may not be taken from us That is the news that I have for you It shall not be Camulos is ours and always shall be A mistake was made, I had to buy back this land But it is finished now And no one can take it from us Oh, my husband, I knew God would grant my prayers This shall be a perpetual lamp to burn for Camulos As long as our children and grandchildren Shall love it as we do Several times in these programs He referred to various causes of defective land titles Against which a policy of title insurance Provides protection One of these risks is that of forgery I am going to tell you of an actual example Of how this protection works Several years ago a highly respected citizen Of a community near Los Angeles The operator of a real estate and loan business Was found to be a forger He had issued forged notes and trust deeds Covering a large number of properties In Los Angeles County He had forged the names of the owners Of these forged notes and trust deeds to investors Keeping for his own use The money thus realized The men and women purchasing these forged notes And trust deeds had paid the forger For them amounts totaling more than $248,000 But some of these people had been wise enough To ask for policies of title insurance Their investments amounted to more than $85,000 The title insurance companies Reimbursed these insured investors Both as to principal and accrued interest Promptly after the forgeries were established The investors of the other $163,000 Who had not obtained title insurance Were less fortunate After three years of court proceedings They obtained less than $9,000 Or almost $154,000 less Than they had put in Forgery is but one of the several risks To land titles Against which you can be protected By a policy of title insurance Issued by the title insurance and trust company Of Los Angles When you buy land Or make a loan secured by land Insist on this protection The Philadelphia and California Oil Company Failed But years later, about 1875 Two other men brought in One of Southern California's first oil wells In Pico Canyon But the field was small Compared to other Southern California fields And although it created quite a stir then Its significance was soon passed My fond Dona Inaccio's acres Remained peaceful and quiet Except for an occasional visit From the notorious bandit Tibusio Vasquez Whose hideout of Vasquez's rocks Was near the rancho On one such occasion Inaccio Inaccio See, Isabel, what is it? You must do something This must not go on What, Nicarita? What are you talking about? Here, Juan, tell him See Tell me, Juan, what is it? Nothing, señor Just, señor Vasquez I... Is that all you have to say? I... This man, this bandit, this murderer Steals your horse and you say I... With you I am disgusted But, Isabel, he has not stolen my horse He has just borrowed it He leaves me, he's in return And presently, some night He will return and bring back my horse To exchange for his own See, Dona Inaccio He always does He may be a bandit But he's a man of honor About horses, that is But don't you see He is using your horse For his unholy business Robbing, killing See, perhaps But what am I to do? What are you to do? Are you not a man? Are you afraid of him? Afraid of him? Why should I be? He likes me Trust me, otherwise He should not steal my horse That is just it He trusts you As a good citizen You should not be trusted by him You should turn him over To the authorities Turn him over to the police One, one My dear I could as easily turn over A mountain lion to the lands What am I to do? He will come back You say so yourself He will return your horse Very well Have men stationed and wait for him Then when he comes Then when he comes When he comes You are probably a widow You like them? You are cowards, both of you Letting a stupid bandit frighten you I shall be most angry If you do nothing to stop his treachery Very well, my dear We shall watch for him One, you are to stay by the corral Every night, watching for him See, but what do I do? When he shows up? See, you were... Run, Michael Diablo After the failure of the company To find O.L. Rancho San Francisco Came into the possession of H.M. Newhall Of the Newhall Farming and Milling Company And on it, he plotted the town of Newhall And later, Saugus And in 1876, the Southern Pacific Railroad Hold through the Newhall tunnel And completed the first transcontinental rail link Between Los Angles and the East Americans flocked to the new paradise of the Pacific Crowding out the old families of Californians And the fast-dying Indians In the early 1880s, the government sent Two experts to California to study The unenviable position of the native Indians In the frontier society One of them was a guest at the home Of aging Don Inasio Del Valle Don Inasio, your Rancho Camulos is heavenly I couldn't dream of a lovelier place to live I am happy, senora Make it your home as long as you will I only wish that it could be longer But I shall always remember it The Asianda, the chapel That quaint, raw-eyed couch on the porch And, oh, perhaps I shall put them all into my book Your... your book, senora? You were writing a book? Yes, I've learned so much about the Indians On my trip that... My heart bleeds for them See, I know what you mean But their story can't be told in stuffy reports I intend to tell it in a way that will Touch people's hearts So I'm writing a book It is an excellent idea And what will you call your book, senora? I'm going to name it after my heroine, Ramona Ramona? I shall await its printing eagerly Helen Hunt Jackson Wrote the immortal story of Ramona And in it, she used much of the scene Of Don Inacio's home at Rancho Camulos And now the march of progress engulfed Even the outlying Rancho San Francisco The growing metropolis of Los Angeles Quickly became an American city Of industry and commerce Where once had stood the sleepy Spanish village But there is disaster in every story of progress And one of the Southland's greatest disasters Took place on Rancho San Francisco Towering high in the air Within the bastion walls of San Francisco Canyon A great man made barrier Pinioned the waters of the vast mountainous acres The Saint Francis Dam Like a great shadow with looms silent menacing And on that fateful night in 1928 Without warning, it brought crushing horror To the valley of the Santa Clara What was that? That noise? I don't Good Lord George, look, the dam The dam! It's cracked, a huge crack all the way down It's crumbling, it's piking up In a minute she's going to let loose Except for the valley, the whole valley will be flooded In Santa Paula I will wipe the whole town out Yeah, and our families are there Well, good Lord, what can we do? It's too late to warn Look at this, it's breaking Come on then, we gotta get out of here fast Run, run for your life! A great 20 foot wall of water Rushed down the valley of the Santa Clara to the sea With it, it carried the wreckage of farms And homes and towns And scores of human lives Millions of dollars of damage was done In one of the Southland's greatest disasters But to the ranch or San Francisco Or that part of it called Camulos A more personal tragedy had already taken place It was one day in the year 1924 Only a few years ago Yeah, they're still in there Yeah, almost an hour now Funny how people like to stay in that little chapel It ain't so funny If you'd been here at Camulos as long as I have Maybe you'd understand You see, the boss, I mean, don't know Piano del Valle He was born here This land has belonged to his family for 85 years His father, who don't need necio Built this house in that chapel Sure, I know all that Oh, it's just an old ranch house Just a little chapel It isn't used very much anymore Slim, you just don't get it Now look Flickering light at the window Sure, you can always see that That's what I mean That there's a lamp It's been burning there for 60 years It ain't never going out You understand? Well, I don't rightly believe that But it's true, 60 years And it's the same fire Oh, don't you, Isabel, live it Way back in 1865 They've kept it going all these years You know, Pete's like They can put electric lights in there now But don't you see, it's a tradition It's part of the Rancho Part of the Del Valle family It's... Oh, what's a youth trying to tell A dumb ranch hand like you anything I ain't so dumb Maybe I can understand them Going in that dead chapel Staying so long But what I can't figure out is What are we doing standing here in the shadows This is the last time When they come out tonight They won't go back in again You mean... Because they sold the ranch? Sold the ranch Caboulos For 85 years Caboulos has belonged to the Del Valle Now... Look, look, the lights are going out Yeah 85 years And the lamp Out Well I guess that's the end of it Yeah, I guess so Uh Flynn, let me act you I got something to buy Frank Graham will be back in a moment To tell you about next week's program The title insurance and trust company of Los Angeles Suggests that during the coming week You take advantage of the pleasurable opportunities Afforded by the All Winter Sun Festival Sponsored by the All Year Club of Southern California The All Year Club has assembled information On all the scores of interesting And colorful events Scheduled throughout Southern California During the winter months This information is available for the convenience And pleasure of Southland residents As well as of visitors from other states By familiarizing ourselves with these events We can all be better hosts To our eastern visitors And we can have more fun ourselves Tell your neighbors, friends, and business correspondence About the All Winter Sun Festival And now What's the story for next week, Frank? Next week, we'll tell you the story Of one of the great patriarchs of early California Don Antonio Maria Lugo Head of one of its most illustrious families There's romance And adventure So be sure to hear it And so until next week This is your wandering vaquero Frank Graham Saying Yes, Senores The Romance of the Ranchos A presentation of the title, insurance, and trust company Of Los Angeles Is dramatized by John Dunkel And produced by Ted Bliss With special music arranged by Erwin Yo Bob LeMond speaking This is the Columbia Broadcasting System