This Placerita Gold takes us several miles up Placerita Canyon to an abandoned rock house on the north side of the road where a very special now 92 year old Newhall resident was born. Journey back in time as we meet Melba Walker Fisher.

If the Walker name sounds familiar, it is because Melba is the daughter – one of a total of 7 sons and 5 daughters – born to Frank Evans Walker and his wife Hortence Victoria Reynier in 1916. Frank Evans was a miner and a rancher raising sheep, cattle, chickens and ducks. Due to the poor soil, although they had a garden, there were no crops grown. The Walker Ranch consisted of 640 acres, with the only tools they used being their hands, Melba says.

FISHING FOR GOLD

Since the first gold was discovered in Placerita Canyon by the Oak of the Golden Dream, according to Melba, her father "always said he was gonna strike it rich but never did". He had only finding gold on his mind, he was "fishing for gold". Actually he did find a nugget once, the size of a 50 cent piece which he took to Los Angeles for money which amounted to the grand amount of $22.! Melba also said that her father "never finished anything he started" which is probably why there is an unfinished fireplace sitting in Placerita Canyon as well.

LIFE IN PLACERITA

In the early years of the 20^th century when Melba was a child, the family lived in not one but two small cabins adjacent to Placerita Creek. The winter cabin with a heater, still located today next to the Placerita Canyon Nature Center and a summer cabin approximately two miles up the canyon. Today the fireplace remnants of the summer cabin are a destination point for hikers and equestrians and in fact, there is a Walker Trailhead sign on Placerita Canyon.

Next to what is now the Nature Center, the entire family lived in a cabin consisting of several bedrooms, a living room with fireplace, dining room and kitchen. The cabin now is only one bedroom since two bedrooms were torn down by the movie companies who leased it for $5 a day, wanting it to look like a little prairie house.

Melba said that she had a great imagination due to no television or pictures, pointing up to the mountain and saying that this white mark was a mark of Santa Claus. In fact, Christmas was her favorite time of year with Santa Claus leaving oranges and apples, two pieces of hard candy, and a rubber ball. She remembers bouncing her rubber ball. "It really didn’t take much in those days to make some one happy", she says. She rode a horse all over, and hiked many times up what is now the Los Pinetos Trail, up to the top. In fact, she says she has climbed every tree and hiked every trail in Placerita Canyon.

The Placerita Creek ran year round then, providing fresh water as well as serving as the only bathtub the family had, all sharing the same towel, according to Melba. She recalls making their own swimming pools with everyone taking off their clothes and getting in the water – nobody even owned bathing suits – and it was no big deal then.

The children were never allowed to go on any trails alone due to fear of mountain lions and snakes. "The rattlesnakes were our worst enemy. They were around here first so we had to respect them". Coyotes were also a major problem.

EARLY EDUCATION

Since no school was in the neighborhood, the children all went to Newhall Elementary which was over six miles away. They traveled in an old bus driven by a Mrs. Kennedy and the journey on unpaved Placerita Canyon took quite some time. Note: the first part of Newhall Elementary was built in 1904, and then added on to in 1917. In World War II, it was reinforced for a bomb shelter, and is earthquake proof, according to Shirlemae Beverly.

Since their mother passed away when Melba was 14, Melba wasn’t able to attend high school as she was needed to take care of her younger siblings. But if she were to have attended high school, the nearest high school at that time was located in San Fernando, she says.

HART RIDES AGAIN

Interestingly, Melba fondly remembers William S. Hart riding his horses over to her family ranch, giving each one of the children a dollar. "On my goodness, I thought I was rich" she says, "I bought a pair of sandals for 98 cents, and had two cents left over.

Hart filmed many movies over on the Walker property, with each day, her father charging $5 dollars to allow the filming.

A LITTLE ABOUT MOM AND MUSIC

Melba’s mother was a musician. Lots of parties were at the Walker Ranch, with neighbors coming from miles around, the children curling up on the concrete floor and going to sleep while their parents would keep on dancing all night until the sun would come up.

NEWHALL SHOPPING

Melba remembers there being one grocery store then and one gas station. She also remembers the train stopping in front of the Saugus Café, with people getting off the train, crossing the road to eat. For furniture, one would have to travel to San Fernando.
To serve the large livestock population was a hay and feed store located on San Fernando Road that had been owned by the Frew Family.

GETTING AROUND

In the early 20^th Century, people mostly had horses and buggies when she was a child, and that’s how people would get around. "It would take all day to get to Newhall and back", she remembers traveling on a rutted dirt Placerita Canyon Road. Later she remembers her father buying an old Model T truck in 1923.

THE FIRST RADIO

The Walker family had been the first to get a radio. She remembers neighbors would come from miles around to listen in.

MELBA’S FAMILY LIFE

Melba first married in 1936 to George Starbuck (no relation to Starbuck fame), living in Glendale and raising two children George and Gayle who now live in Oregon.

After her first husband passed away, she remarried in 1948 to Walter Fisher to whom she was married for 53 years, living once again in Newhall . They had two children, Gayrose and Walter Jr. who live in Bakersfield. For the past 40 years, she has up the hill on 8^th Street, in an area known as Snob Hill, she recalls living next to Ruth Jones, a teacher at Newhall Elementary School.iHHil Her husband Wally was a major property owner and businessman, which included serving as a Director of the Santa Clarita National Bank. He passed away at the age of 94 in 2002. Melba continues to live in her 8^th street house on the hill but is frequently visited by her great grandson Tyler Nuss, a Castaic resident and student at Hart High, as well as other family members. In addition, she says she has "eight or nine grandchildren."

Most of her siblings live in Oregon, except for her brother Tommy, a former Newhall resident who now lives in Palmdale.

SENIOR CENTER

Since the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center first opened up in 1958, Melba says she has attended regularly, each day walking to and from her 8^th Street Home. She has made great friends and enjoys her daily routine of having lunch there. In fact, it was from one of these lunches that she met Chuck Beverly, telling him about her life which in turn inspired him to contact me. I interviewed Melba, along with Chuck and Shirlemae, after lunch at the center. The Senior Center is a special destination for many people, including Melba.

MELBA’S FIELD TRIP

After our interview, we took Melba on a field trip through our Placerita Canyon and up to the Nature Center. While driving through the canyon, she commented that no pavement existed then, nor were there any houses, only oak trees and the dairy. She remembers Quigley Canyon, though without houses on it.

When we arrived at the Nature Center, she looked into the cabin, her old home , and added that each one of the fireplace rocks had been carried by hand by her and her siblings. When he drove further up the Canyon, she pointed out her birthplace which still sets on the side of the road (the area’s first homestead built by her father) , and that this land had been sold to the Mitchells. She also pointed out where the summer cabin was located down near where the Placerita Creek runs (near the Walker Ranch Trailhead sign). She also pointed out the water trough for the livestock.

On the way back,we drove once again through Placerita Canyon, this time driving by our own homes. Melba repeated several times how much we must enjoy living here in Placerita Canyon.

PARK DESIGNATION

It should be noted that Los Angeles County took possession of the Walker Ranch area in 1959 to add to the rest of the State park’s acquisition in 1949. This action thereby serves to maintain the legacy of the Walker Ranch for present and future generations to experience and enjoy. The park is now maintained by Los Angeles County.

ADDITIONAL TIDBITS

According to a Signal article appearing on February 20, 2000, featuring an interview with Melba’s son George Starbuck and then Placerita Canyon resident Tom Walker. Melba was mentioned as having remembered missionaries from the San Fernando Mission crossing the mountains at what is today the Nature Center to try to convert the local Indians. In 1918, the original Walker house burned down and the family moved down the canyon to the cabin now at the Nature Center. The reason that two homes, a winter cabin and a summer cabin were needed was because the road near the summer home was impassible in the winter. In the late 1930’s, the family moved permanently into the summer cabin, located on now what is known as the Walker Ranch section of Placerita State Park.

The Signal further said that Frank Walker’s parents, William Raymond Walker and Rosa Belle Evans had mining concerns on the present Golden Valley Ranch site and that when Frank built the original house on the homestead, the family legacy began in Placerita Canyon. Melba’s mother’s parents were Jean Joseph Reynier and Hortence Sambien, with Jean Joseph coming over from France around the 1860’s, bringing grape vines with him which flourished in the area, descendants of which can still be seen in Placerita and Sand Canyons. The Signal quotes Melba as saying "I would crush those grapes for $2 a week", referring to the grapes being crushed for wine at her grandparents’ home.

Interestingly, in the late 1950’s, the Walt Disney Co. took over a portion of property off of Placerita Canyon Road, which is now home to Disney Golden Oaks Ranch. According to the Signal article, "Walt Disney and his wife visited our father at the ranch." Tom Walker recalled proudly.

Until the 1980’s when PacSun LLC acquired some of the Walker Ranch property from the Mitchell family, the land had been used extensively for cattle grazing. Since the Signal article was written, the City of Santa Clarita decided to not grant PacSun development rights for this portion of Golden Valley Ranch, citing instability concerns, with plans for this land also to become immortalized as open space.

OUR PLACERITA GOLD

Without a doubt, Melba Walker Fisher is living Placerita Gold with her recollections about living in Placerita Canyon enriching our own perspective about how life used to be in generations past. We express our deep appreciation to her for sharing her stories and bringing such rich history to Placerita Canyon residents.

In addition, gratitude in preparation of this article is expressed to our first Placerita Gold honoree Shirlemae Beverly and her husband Chuck; Dianne Erskine Hellrigel, volunteer with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and leader of the SCV Community Hiking Club; and SCVHistory.com.