"Ridge Route: The Road That United California" by Harrison Irving Scott is available now for only $25 at the SCV Historical Society headquarters at Heritage Junction (at the Saugus Train Station inside William S. Hart Park in Newhall).

Step back in time with the foremost authority on this subject — Harrison Scott — and tour California's Scenic Ridge Route. When it opened in 1915 it was hailed as the "Magnus Opus" of mountain highway engineering. Bypassed by the Ridge Alternate in 1933, it was left to the elements and all but forgotten. With "Scotty" as your guide, you'll visit sites like Sandberg's famous Summit Hotel where you would have seen Cadillacs, Packards and Studebakers during the road's heyday. The sign out front read: "Truck Drivers and Dogs Not Allowed." Not far from Sandberg's you'll locate the former site of the opulent Hotel Lebec, playground for Hollywood's finest. Screenwriters, directors and famous movie stars like Clark Gable and Carol Lombard made it their destination. The Ridge Road House, the National Forest Inn and Kelly's Half Way House are but a few of the other sites you will visit. Don't take your eyes off the road; motorists faced 697 curves when navigating the famous mountain highway. Rare and historic photos of the road and establishments that lined its route will highlight your adventure. You will visit the location where "Queen Nell" had her shack and review how her sister chased General Petroleum's pipeline crew from her property with a shotgun when they trampled her vineyard. You'll follow "Ridge Route Annie's" adventurous search for gold. Read how highwayman relieved unsuspecting motorists of their valuables, out-of-control trucks careened downhill when their brakes failed, and the 1922 blizzard stranded scores of motorists in freezing weather. All of this in addition to early history on north-south routes and how the Butterfield Stage and later the Southern Pacific Railroad had to be coaxed to come into Los Angeles. While the book focuses on the 1915 Scenic Ridge Route, it also addresses the 1933 Ridge Alternate (U.S. Highway 99, aka "The Old Road") and the current Interstate 5 Ridge Route highway.
Sales benefit the SCV Historical Society.

To order by mail, send a check or money order for $25 plus $3.20 for shipping and handling (total: $28.20), payable to "Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society" to:

SCV Historical Publications
c/o Leon Worden
Post Office Box 802993
Santa Clarita, CA 91380-2993