Rice Canyon, Santa Clarita, California
Website created and maintained by Stan Walker
Rice Canyon was evidently named for a Mr. Rice, who filed the first claim in 1865. This was stated by Ludwig L. Salvator in his "Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies" book. I have seen Rice called Dr. Rice in some later works, but I believe this is an error. Rice's claims were bought by Dr. Vincent Gelcich in the 1870's and some writers have carelessly given Rice Gelcich's title.
Rice Canyon is east of Wiley Canyon and Leaming Canyon and bisects the Pico Anticline just like Pico, Towsley, Wiley, and Leaming Canyons. There were 14 wells drilled in Rice Canyon starting in 1899. In 1936 there was a major plane crash that killed 12 people.
Apparently, the land up the canyon east of the creek bed up to the top of the ridge between Rice and East Canyons is still privately owned. See the end of the photos webpage to see a map.
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Copyright © 2008 Stan Walker. All rights reserved.
All photographs, unless otherwise noted, are owned by Stan Walker