GROUP SEES LAND ACHIEVE PARK STATUS.Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer A 670-acre crescent of the Santa Susana Mountains The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south from Santa Clara River Valley to the north and became a state historic park Tuesday, 28 years after local activists pledged to protect the American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. and stagecoach-era relics scattered on its sage-covered hillsides. At a public hearing in Valencia, the California State Parks This is a list of state parks and reserves in the California state park system. Jump to: External links A : Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The road used to be an Indian trail, and later a wagon road (a famous part was called Devil's Slide) before the road was paved. State Historic Park, eliciting cheers and applause from members of the Santa Susana Mountain Parks Association. ``I am thrilled to be here,'' said Janice Hinkston, who launched the effort to protect the park in 1970 and traveled from her current home in Oregon to see her decades-long dream completed. Overlooking the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. at the end of Devonshire Street, the park's craggy crag·gy adj. crag·gi·er, crag·gi·est 1. Having crags: craggy terrain. 2. Rugged and uneven: a craggy face. rock outcroppings shelter a treasure trove TREASURE TROVE. Found treasure. 2. This name is given to such money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, which having been hidden or concealed in the earth or other private place, so long that its owner is unknown, has been discovered by accident. of historic and pre-Columbian artifacts. The site formed a border between two American Indian villages of Gabrieleno and Chumash tribes, said Clayton Phillips, manager of the state Department of Parks and Recreation's southern service center. And it was a key route of stagecoach stagecoach, heavy, closed vehicle on wheels, usually drawn by horses, formerly used to transport passengers and goods overland. Throughout the Middle Ages and until about the end of the 18th cent. lines between Southern and Northern California. Soft sandstone below a rock ledge bears a carving of the name ``Pedro'' - a Basque shepherd who left his mark 100 years ago. Next to it are black rock paintings. Not the real thing, said hiking guide Barbara Coffman, but probably the work of old film companies that shot at the site earlier in the century. The faux petroglyphs have acquired their own historic value since then, she said. A short hike away is a cistern cistern /cis·tern/ (sis´tern) a closed space serving as a reservoir for fluid, e.g., one of the enlarged spaces of the body containing lymph or other fluid. the size of a swimming pool, once used to water horses, now the home of an exotic, invasive reed. And nearby is a slope called Devil's Slide, which formed one of the most treacherous legs of the stagecoach route. ``First I fell in love with the beautiful rock formations,'' said Hinkston. ``I fell in love with the beauty of the area and did not even know about the history. Then the Chatsworth Historical Society was giving a hike up the stagecoach trail . . . and I fell in love with the history.'' The Santa Susana Mountain Parks Association began lobbying the state Department of Parks and Recreation to protect and improve the site in the early 1970s, she said. In 1974, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Santa Susana Mountains began accepting gifts of land and money toward that end. In 1979, the department began acquiring parcels of land at the site, piecing together patches to create the contiguous 670-acre area, said Phillips. The cost of purchasing the land totaled $13,801,400, said Robert Baxter, the department's acquisition agent. The next step will be developing a general plan to detail improvements to the site, Phillips said. First on the association's wish list is a visitors center. ``So we can make people aware of the significance of the park,'' Coffman said. Although they were jubilant that the park is now official, speakers told the commission that there is still more work to be done to protect the natural resources that house the cultural artifacts. ``The park is like a diamond in a band of gold,'' said Diana Dixon-Davis. ``The diamond is the park. The band of gold is the wildlife corridor. Without that band of gold the diamond will be lost.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos, map PHOTO (1) Barbara Coffman leads tours through the Santa Susana Mountains area that was granted state historic park status Tuesday. (2) The name ``Pedro'' was believed to have been etched in the rock 100 years ago. (3) The Santa Susana Mountains contain trails that once were used by stagecoaches. David R. Crane/Daily News Map: Chatsworth Park |
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