Placerita Canyon State Park

Placerita Canyon State Park
The restored Walker Cabin at Placerita Canyon State Park
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Location	19152 Placerita Canyon Road Santa Clarita, California 91321 United States
Coordinates	34°22′33″N 118°26′45″W / 34.37583°N 118.44583°W / 34.37583; -118.44583Coordinates: 34°22′33″N 118°26′45″W / 34.37583°N 118.44583°W / 34.37583; -118.44583
Established	1950
Governing body	California Department of Parks and Recreation

Placerita Canyon State Park is a California State Park located on the north slope of the western San Gabriel Mountains, in an unincorporated rural area of Los Angeles County, within the city of Santa Clarita's sphere of influence.^[1]

Cultural history[edit]

The area of Placerita Canyon is still occupied and the ongoing homeland of Tataviam Native American people that was temporarily included in the 1842 Mexican land grant issued for Rancho San Francisco, which dissolved 8 years later with California statehood inside the United States. The park preserves the site of the first documented discovery of gold in California where in 1842, Francisco Lopez found gold flakes on wild onion roots under the "Oak of the Golden Dream".^[2]

The park is near several movie ranches, all historic and active, including the Monogram Movie Ranch—Melody Ranch and the Disney—Golden Oak Ranch.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The "Oak of the Golden Dream" is California Historical Landmark #168.^[6]

Natural history[edit]

Located in the transition zone between the San Gabriel Mountains' California chaparral and woodlands Ecosystem, and the Mojave's Deserts and xeric shrublands Biome in the California Floristic Province, the Placerita Canyon Flora is complex. Placerita Canyon State Park is in the east-west trending Placerita Canyon on the Placerita Fault and contains sandstone and metamorphic formations, and seasonal streams. Chaparral and Coast Live Oak woodland plant communities are represented.

Riparian woodlands at the park include three species of native trees including arroyo willow, cottonwood, and native California sycamore.^[7]

The park is also notable for a seepage of 'white' oil - unknown anywhere else in the world. This late 19th century discovery of oil surprised the prospectors because it is naturally filtered so that it is not black but transparent. A small pool of it continues to be active by the trailside leading up from the Nature Center to the Walker Ranch.

The park[edit]

Placerita Canyon State Park is located in unincorporated Newhall, just outside the city limits of Santa Clarita but within the city's sphere of influence.^[1] The park, under the name Placerita Canyon Natural Area, is currently managed by the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation.^[2] The Placerita Canyon Nature Center is the park's visitor center and museum. The park also contains the Walker Cabin (a restored and furnished 1920s cabin of the Walker family), and hiking and nature trails.^[2]^[8]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Completed Annexations". City of Santa Clarita. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Placerita Canyon State Park". Retrieved 31 May 2009.
^ [1] www.melodyranchstudio. 'Melody Ranch Studio Museum.' Retrieved 5/15/2010.
^ "Placeritos Ranch - Monogram Ranch - Melody Ranch". Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2010-09-08. oxy.edu Monogram-Melody Ranch. Retrieved 5/15/2010
^ Leon Worden. "'Melody Ranch: Movie Magic in Placerita Canyon'". Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. Retrieved 2003-03-29.
^ "Oak of the Golden Dream". California Department of Parks and Recreation. State of California. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
^ http://www.placerita.org/ www.placerita.org "Placerita Canyon Nature Center." Retrieved 5/11/2010.
^ "Placerita Canyon Natural Area and Nature Center". Retrieved 31 May 2009.

External links[edit]

v t e Santa Clarita Valley
City	Santa Clarita
Neighborhoods	Agua Dulce Canyon Country Castaic Newhall Saugus Stevenson Ranch Valencia Val Verde
Schools	Castaic Union School District Newhall School District Saugus Union School District Sulphur Springs School District William S. Hart Union High School District Canyon HS Castaic HS Golden Valley HS Hart HS Saugus HS Valencia HS West Ranch HS Foothill League
Colleges and universities	California Institute of the Arts College of the Canyons The Master's University
Points of interest	Castaic Lake Central Park Golden Oak Ranch Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Mentryville Newhall Pass Pitchess Detention Center Placerita Canyon State Park Pioneer Oil Refinery Santa Clarita Woodlands Park Saugus Speedway Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia Country Club Vasquez Rocks Westfield Valencia Town Center
Services	Los Angeles County Fire Department Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Media	KHTS (AM) The Santa Clarita Valley Signal
Transportation	City of Santa Clarita Transit Metrolink: Antelope Valley Line Newhall station Santa Clarita station Via Princessa station Lang Southern Pacific Station (historic)
History	St. Francis Dam disaster Newhall incident 1971 San Fernando earthquake Twilight Zone accident 1994 Northridge earthquake James Beck Shootout Rye Fire Saugus High School shooting
Companies	condomman.com Honda Performance Development Mechanix Wear Newhall Land and Farming Company Princess Cruises Precision Dynamics Corporation Remo

Protected areas of California

National Park System

National Parks	Channel Islands Death Valley Joshua Tree Kings Canyon Lassen Volcanic Pinnacles Redwood Sequoia Yosemite
National Preserves	Mojave
National Monuments	Cabrillo Castle Mountains César E. Chávez Devils Postpile Lava Beds Muir Woods Tule Lake
National Seashores	Point Reyes
National Historical Parks	Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front San Francisco Maritime
National Historic Sites	Eugene O'Neill Fort Point John Muir Manzanar
National Memorials	Port Chicago Naval Magazine
National Recreation Areas	Golden Gate Santa Monica Mountains Whiskeytown

State Parks

State Parks	Ahjumawi Lava Springs Andrew Molera Angel Island Año Nuevo Anza-Borrego Desert Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland Bidwell–Sacramento River Big Basin Redwoods Border Field Bothe-Napa Valley Burton Creek Butano Calaveras Big Trees Castle Crags Castle Rock Caswell Memorial China Camp Chino Hills Clear Lake Crystal Cove Cuyamaca Rancho D. L. Bliss Del Norte Coast Redwoods Donner Memorial Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point Emerald Bay The Forest of Nisene Marks Fort Ord Dunes Fremont Peak Garrapata Gaviota Great Valley Grasslands Grizzly Creek Redwoods Grover Hot Springs Hearst San Simeon Hendy Woods Henry Cowell Redwoods Henry W. Coe Humboldt Lagoons Humboldt Redwoods Jedediah Smith Redwoods Julia Pfeiffer Burns Leo Carrillo Limekiln MacKerricher Malibu Creek Manchester McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial McLaughlin Eastshore Mendocino Headlands Mendocino Woodlands Montaña de Oro Morro Bay Mount Diablo Mount San Jacinto Mount Tamalpais Navarro River Redwoods Pacheco Palomar Mountain Patrick's Point Pfeiffer Big Sur Placerita Canyon Plumas-Eureka Point Mugu Portola Redwoods Prairie Creek Redwoods Red Rock Canyon Richardson Grove Rio de Los Angeles Robert Louis Stevenson Russian Gulch Saddleback Butte Salt Point Samuel P. Taylor San Bruno Mountain Sinkyone Wilderness South Yuba River Sugarloaf Ridge Sutter Buttes Tolowa Dunes Tomales Bay Topanga Trione-Annadel Van Damme Washoe Meadows Wilder Ranch
State Natural Reserves	Antelope Valley California Poppy Armstrong Redwoods Azalea Caspar Headlands John B. Dewitt John Little Jug Handle Kruse Rhododendron Los Osos Oaks Mailliard Redwoods Mono Lake Tufa Montgomery Woods Point Lobos Smithe Redwoods Torrey Pines Tule Elk
State Marine Reserves	Albany Big Creek Carmel Pinnacles Del Mar Landing Emeryville Crescent Estero de Limantour Fitzgerald Laguna Beach Lovers Point Montara Moro Cojo Slough Natural Bridges Point Lobos Point Sur Russian River Stewarts Point
State Historic Parks	Anderson Marsh Antelope Valley Indian Museum Bale Grist Mill Benicia Capitol Bidwell Mansion Bodie California Citrus California State Indian Museum Chumash Painted Cave Colonel Allensworth Columbia Cowell Ranch/John Marsh El Presidio de Santa Barbara Empire Mine Folsom Powerhouse Fort Humboldt Fort Ross Fort Tejon Governor's Mansion Hearst San Simeon Indian Grinding Rock Jack London La Purísima Mission Leland Stanford Mansion Los Angeles Los Encinos Malakoff Diggins Marconi Conference Center Marshall Gold Discovery Monterey Old Sacramento Old Town San Diego Olompali Petaluma Adobe Pigeon Point Light Station Pío Pico Point Sur Railtown 1897 San Juan Bautista San Pasqual Battlefield Santa Cruz Mission Santa Susana Pass Shasta Sonoma Sutter's Fort Tomo-Kahni Wassama Round House Watts Towers of Simon Rodia Weaverville Joss House Will Rogers William B. Ide Adobe Woodland Opera House
State Beaches	Asilomar Bean Hollow Bolsa Chica Cardiff Carlsbad Carmel River Carpinteria Caspar Headlands Cayucos Corona del Mar Dockweiler Doheny El Capitán Emma Wood Gray Whale Cove Greenwood Half Moon Bay Huntington Leucadia Lighthouse Field Little River Malibu Lagoon Mandalay Manresa Marina McGrath Montara Monterey Moonlight Morro Strand Moss Landing Natural Bridges New Brighton Pacifica Pelican Pescadero Pismo Point Dume Point Sal Pomponio Refugio Robert H. Meyer Memorial Robert W. Crown Memorial Salinas River San Buenaventura San Clemente San Elijo San Gregorio San Onofre Santa Monica Schooner Gulch Seacliff Silver Strand Sonoma Coast South Carlsbad Sunset Thornton Torrey Pines Trinidad Twin Lakes Westport-Union Landing Will Rogers William Randolph Hearst Memorial Zmudowski
State Recreation Areas	Admiral William Standley Auburn Austin Creek Benbow Lake Benicia Bethany Reservoir Brannan Island Candlestick Point Castaic Lake Colusa-Sacramento River Folsom Lake Franks Tract George J. Hatfield Harry A. Merlo Kenneth Hahn Kings Beach Lake Del Valle Lake Oroville Lake Perris Lake Valley Martial Cottle Park McConnell Millerton Lake Picacho Providence Mountains Salton Sea San Luis Reservoir Silverwood Lake Standish-Hickey Tahoe Turlock Lake Woodson Bridge
State Vehicular Recreation Areas	Carnegie Clay Pit Heber Dunes Hollister Hills Hungry Valley Oceano Dunes Ocotillo Wells Prairie City
Other	Burleigh H. Murray Ranch California State Mining and Mineral Museum California State Capitol Museum California State Railroad Museum Castro Adobe Delta Meadows Estero Bay Hatton Canyon Indio Hills Palms Point Cabrillo Light Station Point Lobos Ranch Point Montara Light Station Reynolds Wayside Campground San Timoteo Canyon Stone Lake Verdugo Mountains Ward Creek Wildwood Canyon

National Forests and Grasslands

National Forests and Grasslands	Angeles Butte Valley NG Cleveland Eldorado Humboldt-Toiyabe Inyo Klamath Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Los Padres Mendocino Modoc Plumas Rogue River – Siskiyou San Bernardino Sequoia Shasta–Trinity Sierra Six Rivers Stanislaus Tahoe
National Wilderness Preservation System	Agua Tibia Ansel Adams Bucks Lake Caribou Carson-Iceberg Castle Crags Cucamonga Desolation Dick Smith Dinkey Lakes Emigrant Golden Trout Hoover Inyo Mountains Ishi Jennie Lakes John Muir Kaiser Marble Mountain Mokelumne Mount Shasta Wilderness North Fork Pine Creek San Gabriel Sanhedrin San Jacinto San Rafael Sespe Siskiyou Snow Mountain South Fork Eel River South Sierra South Warner Thousand Lakes Trinity Alps Ventana Yolla Bolly–Middle Eel Yuki
National Monuments and Recreation Areas	Giant Sequoia National Monument San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Smith River National Recreation Area Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area Sand to Snow National Monument

State Forests
Boggs Mountain Demonstration Ellen Pickett Jackson Demonstration Las Posadas LaTour Demonstration Mount Zion Mountain Home Demonstration Soquel Demonstration

National Wildlife Refuges

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Wildlife Areas	Antelope Valley Ash Creek Bass Hill Battle Creek Big Lagoon Big Sandy Biscar Butte Valley Buttermilk Country Cache Creek Camp Cady Cantara/Ney Springs Cedar Roughs Cinder Flats Collins Eddy Colusa Bypass Coon Hollow Cottonwood Creek Crescent City Marsh Crocker Meadows Daugherty Hill Decker Island Doyle Dutch Flat Eastlker River Eel River Elk Creek Wetlands Elk River Fay Slough Feather River Fitzhugh Creek Fremont Weir Grass Lake Gray Lodge Green Creek Grizzly Island Hallelujah Junction Heenan Lake Hill Slough Hollenbeck Canyon Honey Lake Hope Valley Horseshoe Ranch Imperial Indian Valley Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains Kinsman Flat Knoxville Laguna Lake Berryessa Lake Earl Lake Sonoma Little Panoche Reservoir Los Banos Lower Sherman Island Mad River Slough Marble Mountains Mendota Merrill's Landing Miner Slough Monache Meadows Morro Bay Moss Landing Mouth of Cottonwood Creek Napa-Sonoma Marshes North Grasslands O'Neill Forebay Oroville Petaluma Marsh Pickel Meadow Pine Creek Point Edith Putah Creek Rector Reservoir Red Lake Rhode Island Sacramento River San Felipe Valley San Jacinto San Luis Obispo San Luis Reservoir San Pablo Bay Santa Rosa Shasta Valley Silver Creek Slinkard/Little Antelope Smithneck Creek South Fork Spenceville Surprise Valley Sutter Bypass Tehama Truckee River Upper Butte Basin Volta Warner Valley Waukell Creek West Hilmar Westlker River White Slough Willow Creek Yolo Bypass
Ecological Reserves	Albany Mudflats Alkali Sink Allensworth Atascadero Creek Marsh Bair Island Baldwin Lake Batiquitos Lagoon Blue Sky Boden Canyon Boggs Lake Bolsa Chica Bonny Doon Buena Vista Lagoon Butler Slough Butte Creek Canyon Butte Creek House Buttonwillow By Day Creek Calhoun Cut Canebrake Carlsbad Highlands Carmel Bay Carrizo Canyon Carrizo Plains China Point Clover Creek Coachella Valley Coal Canyon Corte Madera Marsh Crestridge Dairy Mart Ponds Dales Lake Del Mar Landing Eden Landing Elkhorn Slough Estelle Mountain Fall River Mills Fish Slough Fremont Valley Goleta Slough Indian Joe Spring Kaweah Kerman King Clone Laguna Laurel Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Lokern Magnesia Spring Marin Islands Mattole River McGinty Mountain Morro Dunes Morro Rock Napa River North Table Mountain Oasis Spring Panoche Hills Peytonia Slough Pine Hill Piute Creek Pleasant Valley Rancho Jamul Redwood Shores River Springs Lakes Saline Valley San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon San Felipe Creek San Joaquin River Santa Rosa Plateau Springville Stone Corral Sycamore Canyon Sycuan Peak Thomes Creek Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Watsonville Slough West Mojave Desert Woodbridge Yaudanchi
Marine Protected Areas	Abalone Cove Albany Mudflats Anacapa Anacapa Año Nuevo Asilomar Atascadero Beach Bair Island Batiquitos Lagoon Big Creek Big Creek Big Sycamore Canyon Bodega Bolsa Chica Cambria Cardiff and San Elijo Carmel Bay Carmel Pinnacles Carrington Point Catalina Marine Science Center Corte Madera Marsh Crystal Cove Dana Point Del Mar Landing Doheny Doheny Duxbury Reef Edward F. Ricketts Elkhorn Slough Elkhorn Slough Encinitas Estero de Limantour Fagan Marsh Farallon Islands Farnsworth Bank Fort Ross Gerstle Cove Goleta Slough Greyhound Rock Gull Island Harris Point Heisler Park Hopkins Irvine Coast James V. Fitzgerald Judith Rock Julia Pfeiffer Burns La Jolla Laguna Beach Lovers Cove (Catalina Island) Lovers Point MacKerricher Manchester and Arena Rock Marin Islands Mia J. Tegner Moro Cojo Slough Morro Bay Morro Bay Morro Beach Natural Bridges Niguel Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Painted Cave Peytonia Slough Piedras Blancas Piedras Blancas Pismo Pismo-Oceano Beach Point Buchon Point Buchon Point Cabrillo Point Fermin Point Lobos Point Reyes Headlands Point Sur Point Sur Portuguese Ledge Punta Gorda Redwood Shores Refugio Richardson Rock Robert E. Badham Robert W. Crown Russian Gulch Russian River Salt Point San Diego-Scripps San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon Santa Barbara Island Scorpion Skunk Point Sonoma Coast Soquel Canyon South Laguna Beach South Point Swami’s Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Van Damme Vandenberg White Rock (Cambria)

Bureau of Land Management National Landscape Conservation System

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National Estuarine Research Reserves
Elkhorn Slough San Francisco Bay Tijuana River Estuary

University of California Natural Reserve System

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History of California

Before 1900	Native Californian Precontact First explorations Later explorations Genocide of indigenous population Spanish colonization Mexican rule California Trail Mexican–American War Californio California Republic United States rule Gold Rush Civil War
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v t e Santa Clara River Watershed
Tributaries	Castaic Creek Piru Creek San Francisquito Creek Sespe Creek
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Landmarks	Angeles National Forest Bouquet Reservoir California State Route 126 Castaic Lake Castaic Lake State Recreation Area Dry Canyon Reservoir Elizabeth Lake Hughes Lake Lake Piru Los Angeles Aqueduct Los Padres National Forest McGrath State Beach Mentryville Mint Canyon Formation Munz Lakes Oxnard Plain Placerita Canyon State Park Pyramid Dam Pyramid Lake Rancho Camulos Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia Rancho San Francisco Rancho Santa Clara del Norte Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy Rancho Sespe Santa Clara River Trail Santa Clara River Valley Santa Clarita Valley San Emigdio Mountains San Francisquito Canyon San Gabriel Mountains St. Francis Dam Santa Susana Mountains Saticoy Oil Field Sespe Wilderness Sierra Madre Mountains Sierra Pelona Ridge Six Flags Magic Mountain Soledad Canyon Topatopa Mountains Vasquez Rocks

Placerita Canyon State Park

Contents

Cultural history[edit]

Natural history[edit]

The park[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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