Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California

Canyon Country is a community and district within the town of Santa Clarita, located in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States.

Canyon Country is north of the San Fernando Valley via Newhall Pass through the Santa Susana and San Gabriel Mountains. Canyon Country is located in the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in the Santa Clarita Valley and Sierra Pelona Mountains foothills.

Contents

History

The area was the ancestral homeland of the Tataviam people for over five hundred years, and other tribes before then, such as the Tongva, Kitanemuk, and Serrano people. After the Spanish invasion the valley first became grazing lands of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España around 1790. In 1834, after Mexican Independence, it became part of the Rancho San Francisco land grant centered on the confluence of the Santa Clara River and Castaic Creek. [1]

In the 1880s the rancho become the Newhall Ranch empire of Henry Newhall, now the present day Newhall Land and Farming Company. In 1928 the St. Francis Dam collapsed, suddenly flooding and washing away settlements and people along the Santa Clara River section of present day Canyon Country. In the 1960s and 1970s the Newhall Land company's suburban developments transformed Canyon Country and the surrounding towns into a focused residential and cultural city.[2]

Santa Clarita founding

In 1987, Canyon Country was one of four communities, with Valencia, Newhall, and Saugus, that merged to create the city of Santa Clarita, California. The latitude of Canyon Country is 34.423N and the longitude is -118.471W [3]. Canyon Country has a population of 59,530 people.

Canyon Country is home to the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, which is also the site of California's original gold discovery at the historic "Oak of the Golden Dream" in 1842 [4].

Services

The Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 104 (Quint) and Station 107 (Engine and Paramedic Squad) serve the community.

References

  1. ^ "History of Canyon Country". Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/cc.htm. Retrieved 2004-07-04. 
  2. ^ "History of Canyon Country". Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/cc.htm. Retrieved 2004-07-04. 
  3. ^ http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=259421
  4. ^ http://www.placerita.org/ . accessed 7/4/2010

External links