Santa Susana Pass
Encyclopedia
The Santa Susana Pass is a Southern California
mountain pass
in the Simi Hills
connecting the San Fernando Valley
and town of Chatsworth, to the Simi Valley
and city of Simi Valley.
to the south and Santa Susana Mountains
to the north, and forms the most critical wildlife corridor
and habitat linkage between them. The scenery is made up of sandstone
formations in massive outcroppings and numerous boulders, with California chaparral and woodlands
Ecoregion
, with oak savannahs
, chaparral shrub forest
, and native bunchgrass
plant communities in between. The perennial water sources provide diverse habitat for birds, mammals, and reptiles.
tribal lands and was first crossed by their trail route, and used for an estimated 8,000 years.
and San Fernando Valley rancho
people used the trail beginning in the latter 18th century. A rough wagon road evolved. In 1859, the California Legislature appropriated $15,000 (with additional funding provided by Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties) towards improving the old wagon road into a new stagecoach road, now known as the Old Santa Susana Stage Road. The precipitous portion of the route down from the summit on the San Fernando Valley side was called the Devil's Slide; horses were usually blindfolded and chains were used to augment brakes on the steep descent. Passengers debarked and walked.
's southern stagecoach route from St. Louis, Missouri
via El Paso
, Fort Yuma
and Los Angeles and on to San Francisco via the Tejon Pass
, which had begun its run in 1858. To compensate, the government contracted the Butterfield Company to carry mail between Los Angeles
and San Francisco via the new wagon road over the Santa Susana Pass. The first overland mail stage run through the pass took place on April 6, 1861. The main route climbs through what is now Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
, with a branch in L.A. City Park 'Chatsworth Park South.' It was an important artery linking the Los Angeles Basin
and inland Ventura County, and was part of the main route for travel by stagecoach
between Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1861 until the opening of rail traffic between the cities in 1876. The Old Santa Susana Stage Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Part of the stage road is also a Historic-Cultural Monument of Ventura County and of the City of Los Angeles under the name 'Old Stagecoach Trail.'
This was the first automobile route between the San Fernando and Simi Valleys. It also was the main northbound 'coast road' to Santa Barbara
and San Francisco, until the Conejo Grade in Ventura County between Conejo Valley
and the Oxnard Plain
on "Camino Real Viejo"
(the Old Royal Road, now U.S. Route 101
), was improved. In 1968 State Route 118
, the "Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway" opened, north of the old auto road as the latest route across the Pass. In 1994 it was renamed the "Ronald Reagan Freeway".
filmed from the 1920s to 1950s here at the Spahn
, Iverson, Bell Moving Picture, and Corriganville
Movie Ranches
. The area became infamous in the late 1960s with the Manson Family headquartered at the Spahn Ranch, near the top of the stage road's Devil's Slide. To the south of the old stage road is Sage Ranch Park and the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
. Immediately to the north of Route 118 at the pass top is Rocky Peak Park, a part of the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor. The old wagon road and rocky hill environs are part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
, for public exploration.
The Southern Pacific Railroad began construction of three railroad tunnels through the pass in 1900 and opened the route in 1904. The railroad built the Santa Susana Depot
in Rancho Simi
on Los Angeles Avenue at Tapo Street in 1903.
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
mountain pass
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
in the Simi Hills
Simi Hills
The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.-Geography:...
connecting the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
and town of Chatsworth, to the Simi Valley
Simi Valley
Simi Valley is a synclinal valley in Southern California in the United States. It is an enclosed or hidden valley surrounded by mountains and hills. It is connected to the San Fernando Valley to the east by the Santa Susana Pass & 118 freeway, and in the west the narrows of the Arroyo Simi and 118...
and city of Simi Valley.
Natural history
The pass is the division between the Simi HillsSimi Hills
The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.-Geography:...
to the south and Santa Susana Mountains
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 Santa Clarita...
to the north, and forms the most critical wildlife corridor
Wildlife corridor
A wildlife corridor or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities . This allows an exchange of individuals between populations, which may help prevent the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity that often occur within...
and habitat linkage between them. The scenery is made up of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
formations in massive outcroppings and numerous boulders, with California chaparral and woodlands
California chaparral and woodlands
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of lower northern, central, and southern California and northwestern Baja California , located on the west coast of North America...
Ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
, with oak savannahs
California oak woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...
, chaparral shrub forest
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
The California coastal sage and chaparral, a sub-ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, is found in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California in Mexico.-Location:...
, and native bunchgrass
Nassella
Nassella is a New World genus of about 115 perennial bunchgrasses found from North America through South America. The Latin name nassa means "a basket with a narrow neck." It is now a segregate from the genus Stipa and includes many New World species formerly classified in that genus.Nasella is...
plant communities in between. The perennial water sources provide diverse habitat for birds, mammals, and reptiles.
Native American
The Santa Susana Pass was at the juncture of the Native American Tongva-Fernandeño, Chumash-Venturaño, and Tataviam-FernandeñoTataviam
The Tataviam , were called the Alliklik by their neighbors the Chumash , are a Native American group in southern California...
tribal lands and was first crossed by their trail route, and used for an estimated 8,000 years.
Early 19th century
The Spanish, and later Mexican, Mission San Fernando Rey de EspañaMission San Fernando Rey de España
Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary" , 1797. The settlement is located on the former Encino Rancho in the Mission Hills community of northern Los Angeles, near the site of the first gold discovery in Alta California.-History:Mission San Fernando Rey de...
and San Fernando Valley rancho
History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915
The history of the San Fernando Valley from its exploration by the 1769 Portola expedition to the annexation of much of it by the City of Los Angeles in 1915 is a story of booms and busts, as cattle ranching, sheep ranching, large-scale wheat farming, and fruit orchards flourished and faded...
people used the trail beginning in the latter 18th century. A rough wagon road evolved. In 1859, the California Legislature appropriated $15,000 (with additional funding provided by Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties) towards improving the old wagon road into a new stagecoach road, now known as the Old Santa Susana Stage Road. The precipitous portion of the route down from the summit on the San Fernando Valley side was called the Devil's Slide; horses were usually blindfolded and chains were used to augment brakes on the steep descent. Passengers debarked and walked.
Mid-19th century
The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 disrupted mail service along the Butterfield Overland MailButterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
's southern stagecoach route from St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
via El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
, Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma is a fort in California that is located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Fort Yuma Indian School and a...
and Los Angeles and on to San Francisco via the Tejon Pass
Tejon Pass
The Tejon Pass is a mountain pass at the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains linking Southern to Central California.-Geography:The apex of the pass is near the northwesternmost corner of Los Angeles County, north of Gorman...
, which had begun its run in 1858. To compensate, the government contracted the Butterfield Company to carry mail between Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and San Francisco via the new wagon road over the Santa Susana Pass. The first overland mail stage run through the pass took place on April 6, 1861. The main route climbs through what is now Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where Simi Hills meet the Santa Susana Mountains...
, with a branch in L.A. City Park 'Chatsworth Park South.' It was an important artery linking the Los Angeles Basin
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
and inland Ventura County, and was part of the main route for travel by stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
between Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1861 until the opening of rail traffic between the cities in 1876. The Old Santa Susana Stage Road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Part of the stage road is also a Historic-Cultural Monument of Ventura County and of the City of Los Angeles under the name 'Old Stagecoach Trail.'
Late 19th century
A new wagon route bypassing the deteriorating Devil's Slide was opened in 1895 to the north . Initially called El Camino Nuevo (the New Road), it was later named the Chatsworth Grade Road, which continued in use until Santa Susana Pass Road (now Old Santa Susana Pass Road) was built in 1917.This was the first automobile route between the San Fernando and Simi Valleys. It also was the main northbound 'coast road' to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
and San Francisco, until the Conejo Grade in Ventura County between Conejo Valley
Conejo Valley
The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States...
and the Oxnard Plain
Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California bounded by the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Susana Mountains, and Oak Ridge to the east, the Topatopa Mountains to the north, the Santa Clara River Valley to the northeast and the Pacific Ocean to the south and...
on "Camino Real Viejo"
El Camino Real (California)
El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...
(the Old Royal Road, now U.S. Route 101
U.S. Route 101
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101, is an important north–south U.S. highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States...
), was improved. In 1968 State Route 118
California State Route 118
State Route 118 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that begins running west to east through Ventura and Los Angeles counties in southern California. It travels from Saticoy in Ventura County east to Lake View Terrace in Los Angeles...
, the "Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway" opened, north of the old auto road as the latest route across the Pass. In 1994 it was renamed the "Ronald Reagan Freeway".
20th century
The pass area became famous from being seen in many movies, primarily 'Westerns,'Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
filmed from the 1920s to 1950s here at the Spahn
Spahn Ranch
Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a movie ranch used for filming generally Western-themed movies and television programs. With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery, and an 'old Western town' set, Spahn Ranch was a versatile filming site for many scripts...
, Iverson, Bell Moving Picture, and Corriganville
Corriganville Movie Ranch
Corriganville Movie Ranch was a working film studio and movie ranch for outdoor location shooting, as well as a Western-themed tourist attraction...
Movie Ranches
Movie ranch
A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated to being used as a site for the creation and production of motion pictures, and television productions...
. The area became infamous in the late 1960s with the Manson Family headquartered at the Spahn Ranch, near the top of the stage road's Devil's Slide. To the south of the old stage road is Sage Ranch Park and the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Santa Susana Field Laboratory
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory is a complex of industrial research and development facilities located on a 2,668 acre portion of the Southern California Simi Hills in Simi Valley, California, used mainly for the testing and development of Liquid-propellant rocket engines for the United States...
. Immediately to the north of Route 118 at the pass top is Rocky Peak Park, a part of the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor. The old wagon road and rocky hill environs are part of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where Simi Hills meet the Santa Susana Mountains...
, for public exploration.
The Southern Pacific Railroad began construction of three railroad tunnels through the pass in 1900 and opened the route in 1904. The railroad built the Santa Susana Depot
Santa Susana Depot
Santa Susana Depot is a train station building located in Simi Valley, California. The depot was constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was opened in 1903. The depot was originally located on Los Angeles Avenue at Tapo Street and was part of the completion of the Coast Route linking...
in Rancho Simi
Rancho Simi
Rancho Simi, also known as Rancho San José de Nuestra Senora de Altagarcia y Simi, was a Spanish land grant in eastern Ventura and western Los Angeles counties given in 1795 to Francisco Javier Pico and his two brothers, Patricio Pico and Miguel Pico by Governor Diego de Borica...
on Los Angeles Avenue at Tapo Street in 1903.
See also
- Burro Flats Painted CaveBurro Flats Painted CaveBurro Flats Painted Cave is in the Burro Flats area of the Simi Hills, located between the Simi Valley, and West Hills and Bell Canyon, in Ventura County of Southern California, United States. It is a Cave containing Chumash Native American pictographs...
- Old Santa Susana Stage Road
- Santa Susana Pass State Historic ParkSanta Susana Pass State Historic ParkSanta Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where Simi Hills meet the Santa Susana Mountains...
- Corriganville Movie RanchCorriganville Movie RanchCorriganville Movie Ranch was a working film studio and movie ranch for outdoor location shooting, as well as a Western-themed tourist attraction...
- Spahn Movie RanchSpahn RanchSpahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a movie ranch used for filming generally Western-themed movies and television programs. With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery, and an 'old Western town' set, Spahn Ranch was a versatile filming site for many scripts...
- Iverson Movie Ranch
- Bell Moving Picture Ranch - Bell Location Ranch
- History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915History of the San Fernando Valley to 1915The history of the San Fernando Valley from its exploration by the 1769 Portola expedition to the annexation of much of it by the City of Los Angeles in 1915 is a story of booms and busts, as cattle ranching, sheep ranching, large-scale wheat farming, and fruit orchards flourished and faded...
External links
- California State Parks Dept. - Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
- LAMountains.com - Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park
- LAMountains.com - Sage Ranch Park
- LAMountains.com - Corriganville Park
- LAMountains.com - Rocky Peak Park
- Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage Photos.
- Corriganville Regional Park.