Newhall Pass Stone Monuments
Here are the three stone monuments on October 5, 2018.
There are three stone monuments (or cairns) on Sierra Highway just south of the Newhall Refinery on the east side of the road. There are three monuments, but actually there were four plaques. The middle monument had two plaques.
The 1916 Fremont Pass plaque was attached to the stone monument on the left. However, as we will see below, that is not the original stone monument or position. The original was constructed in 1916. The current stone monument was probably constructed in 1940.
The larger monument in the middle had two plaques - one for the Oak of the Golden Dream and one for the Pioneer Refinery. It was constructed in September of 1947.
The monument on the right had a Newhall tunnel plaque. The exact date when that monument was constructed is unknown, but it was between 1949 and 1953. All the plaques were stolen many years ago.
No monument with plaque was ever constructed to honor "Beale's Cut" because it was commonly called the Fremont Pass until the 1930's and 40's. In 1847, John C. Fremont passed over this mountain in one day giving him no time to dig any cut. Part of his troops may have passed over the original low point here with the other troops passing over more to the east in the vicinity of today's Highway 14.
On May 25th, 1916, the Ebell Club of San Fernando erected a stone monument at what was then usually called the Fremont Pass and attached a bronze plaque to it. It was dedicated on May 26th. The Ebell Club is a woman's social club that is still active today.
The Los Angeles Times of May 25, 1916, reported on the dedication of a new memorial at Fremont Pass to be held the next day. There is no evidence that the flagpole mentioned in the story was even erected.
Description of the ceremony from the Los Angeles Times of June 4, 1916.
From "Ayeres Del Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles (Yesterdays of Los Angeles)", Howard Automobile Company of Los Angeles, 1927(?), 16 page booklet, by Mrs. A.S.C. Forbes, chairman of the Committee on Landmarks of the Historical Society of Southern California.
Closer view of the original stone monument. The rocks were cemented in place. Its position is right in front of a rock face "at the south entrance to the old pass". Based on the size of the plaque (about 12x20 inches), the stone monument is between 5 and 6 feet tall. It says:
Fremont Pass
1847
Erected by
San Fernando Ebell Club
May 25, 1916
Here is a 1920's view of the original stone monument with actor William S. Hart looking down on an unknown man evidently penciling something on the plaque. Like the previous photo, this photo shows that the original marker was located at the foot of the slope. Courtesy of the SCVHistory dot com website.
There is now a different Fremont Pass stone monument with the same plaque. Its new position is in the open away from the stone face. This is an auto turnout constructed when the Newhall tunnel was replaced with the cut in 1940. At that time, the road was also widened to two lanes in both directions. The turnout was constructed at that time. (Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1947)
It is not totally clear when the old monument was destroyed and the new one built using the old plaque. The top of the new monument appears to say "10/16/40," although the year also looks like "49." However, since we have the previous 1947 photo, we know it can't be "49." The last character must be a sloppy "0." Therefore, this new Fremont Pass monument must have been built on October 16, 1940. That would make sense because the Newhall cut was being created at that time along with a modern 4-lane road with turnouts. (Photo date 10/5/2018)
Photograph caption reads, "Fremont Pass, the rough, hard way that the pioneers plodded, lies beside modern Highway 99 in San Fernando Valley. Above, the approach is shown with a monument in tribute to the men who fought across mountain and desert to win the West in the mid Eighteen-forties." The photo is dated 1946, but it must be older than 1948 because the double-plaque monument was built in September of 1947 (see newspaper article below).
Valley Times Collection, Los Angeles Public Library
Closer view of the new stone monument.
Sitting on Fremont Pass monument. From the San Pedro News-Pilot of February 8, 1949.
Here is the Fremont Pass stone monument on 11/27/2009.
The two plaque monument was completed during the week of September 8, 1947. From the Newhall Signal of September 18, 1947.
Description: "Pictured is Fremont Pass, the rough, hard way that the pioneers plodded, which lies beside modern Highway 99 in San Fernando Valley. A woman shows her young son a monument in tribute to the men who fought across mountain and desert to win the West in the mid Eighteen-forties." Photograph dated December 8, 1948. From the Valley Times Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.
Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1949. The third Newhall Pass stone monument, which would have been visible to the right of the the lady with the white hair, has obviously not been built yet.
Venice, Ca, Evening-Vanguard, July 25, 1950.
Larger middle monument with the two plaques. 1973 photo by Michael Kindig of Long Beach, CA, from the historical markers website. I was alerted to this photo by Paul Reno of Palmdale, Ca.
This photo from the San Pedro News-Pilot of August 11, 1953, shows the third stone monument. A woman is standing directly in front of the new monument staring at it. The road up to the cut is on the right.
This is the third stone monument. These two plaques celebrate the construction of the Newhall Tunnel. The bottom plaque looks like the same plaque that was once located on the Newhall tunnel wall. The wording and size are exactly the same. When the tunnel was eliminated by the cut, was the plaque stored away somewhere and then brought out of storage to be used here? Based on the previous photos, this stone monument was constructed between May of 1949 and August of 1953.
Newhall Tunnel Site
<----- 1/4 Mile
Constructed By
Los Angeles County Highway Commission
A.D. 1910
Geo. H. Bixby, Chairman
Martin C. Marsh John W. Calvert
Arthur E. Loder Chief Engineer
Board Of Supervisors
C.J. Nellis, Chairman
H.D. McCabe R.W. Pridham
S.T. Eldridge C.D. Manning
E. E. Shaffer Contractor
This photo is from the San Pedro News-Pilot of April 6, 1954. It shows all three monuments with Beale's cut in the background.
One of the plaques nearly pryed off. Like all the others, it will eventually be stolen. From the Newhall Signal of February 1, 1971.
From the Newhall Signal of August 31, 1973.
Unfortunately, the tunnel monument has slipped off its base (photo date 4/12/2015).
View from the side (4/12/2015).
In late March of 1978, two of the monuments were defaced by graffiti. After some confusion about who was responsible for maintaining the monuments, it was determined that this was on state-owned land, not private land, and CalTrans did the work (Newhall Signal April 7, 1978).
On February 1, 2018, graffiti was again discovered on the middle stone monument, done during the night.
The next day it was covered up by the City of Santa Clarita Graffiti Removal team.
Here are the three monuments looking north. On the far left is the Newhall cut, which was where the tunnel was. Above the monuments is Beale's cut, partially filled in. You can see that the road through the Newhall cut is lower than the base of Beale's cut. This greatly decreased the grade making it much easier to drive. (Photo date 8/19/2018)