Historical site in Newhall, Santa Clarita, California
The
Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop
, (originally
Hart's Station
, then
Wiley's Station
), was a tavern and
stagecoach
stop near the southwest corner of Newhall Avenue and Sierra Highway, by Eternal Valley Cemetery. The site is located in the present day
Newhall
section of
Santa Clarita
, in Los Angeles County,
California
.
History
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]
The original Hart's Station house was just north over the
San Fernando Pass
on the Fort Tejon Road, north of the
San Fernando Mission
. The wagon road connected Los Angeles and the
Gold Rush
locations in the Sierras, and was part of the inland route to
Sacramento
and the
San Francisco Bay Area
. It was a regular stop for several early California
stagecoach
lines, and accommodated travelers during the 1853
Kern River
gold rush.
Lyons Station
[
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]
Wiley's Station was purchased by Sanford and Cyrus Lyon in 1855, and it was renamed Lyons' Station. The Lyon brothers owned the adobe and ranch land around it, where they farmed, raised sheep, and ran the
watering place
stop. Despite being named Lyons' Station by the Lyon brothers as owners, it was still referred to by its original name of Hart's Station in
Daily Alta California
news accounts of the first trip over the route in 1858.
[2]
The sixth was
Willow Springs Station
, in the
Temecula Valley
.
[3]
In his book, "Sixty Years in Southern California,"
Harris Newmark
writes about his visit to the station in 1856:
[4]
We left Los Angeles early one afternoon, and made our first stop at Lyons's Station, where we put up for the night. One of the brothers [Sanford], after whom the place was named, prepared supper. Having to draw some thick blackstrap from a keg, he used a pitcher to catch the treacle; and as the liquid ran very slowly, our sociable host sat down to talk a bit, and soon forgot all about what he had started to do. The molasses, however, although it ran pretty slowly, ran steadily, and finally, like the mush in the fairy-tale of the enchanted bowl, overflowed the top of the receptacle and spread itself over the dirt floor. When Lyons had finished his chat, he saw, to his intense chagrin, a new job upon his hands, and one likely to busy him for some time.
Over the years Lyons' Station became a combination stagecoach stop,
general store
, and post office, with a telegraph office added after the telegraph line came to Los Angeles in 1861. By 1860 at least twenty families lived in the surrounding settlement.
Petroleopolis
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]
Starting around 1867, Lyons Station came to be called
Petroleopolis
, as Sanford Lyon became involved in the
early oil industry
. A Petroleopolis Post Office operated from 1867 to 1871. Sanford Lyon was appointed its postmaster on July 23, 1869.
In 1874, the Los Angeles Petroleum Refinery Company built an
oil refinery
at Lyons Station. On September 6, 1876, the
Southern Pacific Railroad
line was opened between Los Angeles and Northern California, passing Petroleopolis via Newhall Pass. The railway also linked Southern California to the eastern U.S. via the
transcontinental railroad
in the north. The refinery at Lyons Station was unsuccessful and shut down in 1875, and in 1877 the parts were moved about a mile westward to Andrews Station directly on the railroad line, where a larger refinery was being built.
[5]
California Historical Marker
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]
The site of Lyons Station is marked by
California Historical Landmark
NO. 688, sited in front of the Eternal Valley Memorial Park at 23287 North Sierra Highway in Newhall, near
California State Route 14
and Newhall Avenue.
[1]
Marker reads:
[6]
- NO. 688 LYONS STATION STAGECOACH STOP - This site was the location of a combination store, post office, telegraph office, tavern, and stage depot accommodating travelers during the Kern River gold rush in the early 1850s. A regular stop for Butterfield and other early California stage lines, it was purchased by Sanford and Cyrus Lyons in 1855, and by 1868 at least twenty families lived here. Eternal Valley Memorial Park has called their final resting place "The Garden of the Pioneers.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
"Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop"
. Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks
. Retrieved
2012-10-08
.
- ^
Notes of a Trip to Los Angeles No. 1, Daily Alta California, Volume 12, Number 3888, 5 October 1860 ? Page 1
- ^
Lech, Steve (2012).
Pioneers of Riverside County: The Spanish, Mexican and Early American Periods
. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp. 88?9.
ISBN
978-1609498313
.
OCLC
814373331
.
- ^
Harris Newmark, CHAPTER XIV ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS 1856,
Sixty years in Southern California, 1853-1913, containing the reminiscences of Harris Newmark
. Library of Congress American Memory project, p. 194
, , Retrieved 2011-02-5.
- ^
ElsmereCanyon.com: Pioneer Oil Refinery history?Lyons Station Refinery
- ^
californiahistoricallandmarks.com 688, Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop
External links
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]
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- San Francisco
? Western terminus and 1st Division headquarters, located in downtown San Francisco.
- Clarks's Station
? Located 12 miles south of San Francisco in what is now
San Bruno
.
- Sun Water Station ? Located 9 miles south of Clarks Station in what is now
San Mateo
.
- Redwood City
? Located 9 miles south of Sun Water Station.
- Mountain View Station
? Located 12 miles south of Redwood City.
- San Jose Station ? Located 11 miles south of Mountain View Station in the city of
San Jose
.
- Seventeen Mile House
? Located 17 miles south of San Jose.
- Gilroy Station
? Located 13 miles south of Seventeen Mile House in what is now
Gilroy, California
.
- Pacheco Pass Station
? Located 18 miles east of Gilroy near the top of
Pacheco Pass
.
- St. Louis Ranch
? Located 17 miles east of Pacheco Pass.
- Lone Willow Station
? Located 18 miles east of St. Louis Ranch near
Los Banos
.
- Temple's Ranch
? Located 13 miles southeast of Lone Willow Station near
Dos Palos
.
- Firebaugh's Ferry
? Located 15 miles southeast of Temples Ranch, on the
San Joaquin River
.
- Fresno City
? Located 19 miles southeast of Firebaugh's Ferry.
- Elkhorn Spring Station
? Located 22 miles east of Fresno City near present-day
Riverdale
.
- Whitmore's Ferry
? Located 17 miles southeast of Elkhorn Spring Station on the
Kings River
.
- Head of Cross Creek Station
? Located 15 miles southeast of Whitmore's Ferry.
- Visalia
? Located 12 miles southeast of Cross Creek Station.
- Packwood Station
? Located 12 miles east of Visalia.
- Tule River Station
? Located 14 miles south of Packwood Station.
- Fountain Spring Station
? Located 14 miles southeast of Tule River Station.
- Mountain House
? Located 12 miles south of Fountain Spring Station.
- Posey Creek Station
? Located 15 miles southwest of Mountain House, on
Posey (Poso) Creek
.
- Gordon's Ferry
(Kern River Station) ? Located 10 miles south of Posey Creek Station on the
Kern River
just above present-day
Bakersfield
.
- Kern River Slough Station
? Located 12 miles south of Gordons Ferry.
- Sink of Tejon Station
? Located 14 miles southwest of Kern River Slough Station.
- Fort Tejon
? Located 15 miles southwest of Sink of Tejon Station, north of and below the summit of
Tejon Pass
.
- Reed's Station
? Located 8 miles southeast of Fort Tejon, near, to the south of the summit of the Tejon Pass.
- French John's Station
? Located 14 miles east southeast of Reeds Station, in the vicinity of the mouth of Cow Springs Creek Canyon.
- Mud Spring
, a later station operating in 1860, 14 miles east from French Johns and 13 miles north from Clayton's Station (formerly Widow Smith's Station). [1]
- Widow Smith's Station
(Clayton's Station, Major Gordon's Station) ? Located 24 miles from French John's Station, in upper
San Francisquito Canyon
near
Green Valley
.
- King's Station
? Located 10 miles south of Widow Smith's Station in lower San Francisquito Canyon.
- Hart's Station or
Lyons Station
? Located 12 miles south of King's Station, in
Santa Clarita
.
- Lopez Station
? Located 8
1
⁄
2
miles southeast of Hart's Station, in the
San Fernando Valley
north of
Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana
.
- Cahuenga Station
? Located 12 miles southeast of Mission San Fernando, in
Cahuenga Pass
, of the
Santa Monica Mountains
. The first station of the 1st Division, it was located 12 miles northwest of
Los Angeles
.
Source:
"List of Butterfield Overland Mail Stations "Itinerary of the Route"
"
(PDF)
. New York Times. October 14, 1858.
- [1]
Notes of a Trip to Los Angeles No. 1, Daily Alta California, Volume 12, Number 3888, 5 October 1860 ? Page 1
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Post-colonial placenames; for settlements of indigenous peoples, see
Tongva villages
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