HERITAGE JUNCTION STANDING AS SILENT WITNESS TO HISTORY.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - There's a little corner of Santa Clarita where time stands still, where, except for the occasional whistle from a passing commuter train, there's no sign it's a part of one of the fastest growing cities in California.

There's a collection of old buildings here at Heritage Junction, where the occupants long gone witnessed the rise of the railroad, Prohibition, mission life and school marms.

This treasure of eight houses and other buildings, relocated from all over the Santa Clarita Valley, tells the story of a town that long ago abandoned oil and agriculture as leading industries and evolved into a city known for endless housing tracts and high-tech roller coasters.

``There are great stories attached to every building,'' said Gerry Sokolowicz, a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, which runs Heritage Junction. ``These old buildings have seen a lot of history.''

The centerpiece of Heritage Junction is the Saugus Train Depot, which opened 113 years ago, a few miles west on a dusty highway now known as San Fernando Road. There, beginning in 1887, passengers waited to board the Union Pacific trains that swept through town. The depot was shuttered in 1978, and moved two years later to Newhall to be preserved.

It now houses a museum filled with relics of days gone by - among them old railroad artifacts, some American Indian items plucked from the lands once claimed by the Tatavium tribe and even some old court records from the days when horse thievery was as common as today's carjackings.

The 102-year-old Mogul engine 1629 sits nearby. The Mogul, built in 1900, has been at Heritage Junction since 1982 and sat in rusting disrepair, though restoration is under way and nearly complete.

The 1865 Mitchell Adobe is the oldest building at Heritage Junction. It was once home to the pioneering Mitchell family in the Sulphur Springs area of what is now Canyon Country. Schoolchildren gathered in the kitchen of the adobe for classes, and later the structure was used as a ranch man's home.

Destroyed by a developer in 1986, the adobe brick was transported to the junction in pieces and the old structure recreated by volunteers.

The Kingsburry House was home to several occupants from 1878 to 1943 when Ruth and Charles Kingsburry bought the two-bedroom house, sans kitchen. It was expanded over the years with an additional bedroom, indoor bathroom and a kitchen. A favorite among visitors is the 82-year-old Edison House, built in 1919 by Southern California Edison Co. Assistant Edison Patrolman Raymond Starbard was living there in 1982 when the St. Francis Dam collapsed and is credited with sounding the alarm.

``It's such a hoot to see kids go through,'' said Pat Saletore, a historical society board member who has led many tours. ``They love stories with a little excitement like the dam. I told some Cub Scouts about the dam disaster ... all these people died ... a wall of water 150 feet came in the middle of the night. You can see them forming pictures in their heads. They're standing there with their mouths open.''

Saletore believes his talks are successful when the kids on tour come back with their parents to share the history of their hometown.

She loves the ghost stories that come with these old haunts - particularly the ``lady in blue'' that some visitors swear they have seen in the Newhall Ranch House, built in the 1890s and occupied by members of the pioneer Newhall family.

A psychic visiting the two-story Victorian met the spirits of a boy named Timothy and a cowboy named Rory, Saletore said.

``For good stories, the Ranch House is the best because of the spooks,'' she said.

If the walls could talk at the Pardee House, they would recall the Good Templars - Prohibitionists - who met there, the oil man Ed Pardee who lived there, actor Tom Mix and the movies he filmed there and the Pacific Telephone Co. operators who took over in 1946 providing Newhall with its first telephone exchange. In more modern times, the Pardee House was the headquarters for the local Boys & Girls Club and then the office of the Newhall-Saugus-Valencia Chamber of Commerce.

The smallest structures were actually amusements within Robert E. Callahan's Mission Village, which were relocated in 1963 to the northeastern Santa Clarita Valley from Culver City. Restoration was recently completed at the tiny Ramona Chapel, a nonsectarian, steepled church barely big enough for 10 people inside. And the Callahan School House, built in 1927, was representative of turn-of-the century school houses of the Old West.

``These are buildings that tell stories about our history in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' Saletore said. ``A long time after you and I are gone, they'll still be here for our great-grandchildren's grandchildren.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) A 1900 Mogul engine sits near the Saugus Train Depot at Heritage Junction. Restoration is under way and nearly complete.

(2 -- ran in SAC edition only) The Saugus Train Depot welcomes visitors to the collection of items from the Santa Clarita Valley's past.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) The Santa Clarita Valley's pioneer past is on display for visitors to the Saugus Train Depot.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer